## Facts

- John and Pat Wolf operated a salvage/junkyard business on three contiguous parcels (A, B, and C) in or near Ely, Iowa.
- Under Ely’s 1978 zoning ordinance, the parcels were assigned different zoning classifications (including manufacturing for parcel A), and the City’s zoning maps were inconsistent as to classifications for some property.
- The 1978 ordinance was assembled from multiple model ordinances and contained significant omissions and internal conflicts, including defining “junkyards” without listing them as a permitted use in any zoning district and containing conflicting fence-height provisions.
- A prior city ordinance contemplated development and council approval of a comprehensive plan, but the planning and zoning commission never produced a plan and the city council never approved one; city officials described zoning decisions as handled on an “as-needed” basis.
- In earlier litigation, a district court invalidated Ely’s M-1 manufacturing classification and denied the City’s request to enjoin the Wolfs’ salvage-yard operations; the City did not appeal.
- The Wolfs then filed a declaratory-judgment action seeking to invalidate the entire 1978 ordinance and to confirm the legality of their salvage-yard use, alleging (1) noncompliance with the statutory comprehensive-plan requirement and (2) unconstitutional exclusionary zoning.
- The district court declared the entire zoning ordinance invalid for lack of a comprehensive plan, and later enlarged its ruling to add an exclusionary-zoning/due-process basis after the City filed a notice of appeal.

## Issues

1. Whether Ely’s 1978 zoning ordinance was invalid because it was not made “in accordance with a comprehensive plan” as required by Iowa Code § 414.3.
2. Whether the ordinance was overbroad and exclusionary in violation of substantive due process.
3. Whether the district court could enlarge its findings under Iowa R. Civ. P. 179(b) after the City filed a notice of appeal.

## Decision

- The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the declaratory judgment invalidating Ely’s 1978 zoning ordinance.
- The Court held the ordinance was invalid in its entirety because it was not adopted in accordance with a comprehensive plan as required by Iowa Code § 414.3.
- The Court did not need to decide the constitutional exclusionary-zoning/due-process claim because the statutory defect resolved the case.
- The Court rejected the City’s procedural objection and upheld the district court’s authority to rule on the timely Rule 179(b) motion despite the filed notice of appeal.

## Legal Principles

- Iowa Code § 414.3 requires municipal zoning regulations to be made in accordance with a comprehensive plan reflecting coordinated, community-wide planning rather than ad hoc decisionmaking.
- The absence of an adopted comprehensive plan, combined with ordinance structure indicating uncoordinated and internally inconsistent regulation, supports invalidation for failure to satisfy § 414.3.
- Iowa practice permits a timely post-judgment motion to enlarge or amend findings under Iowa R. Civ. P. 179(b) even after a notice of appeal is filed, with the amended ruling becoming part of the record on appeal.
- Courts may resolve zoning challenges on statutory grounds and avoid broader constitutional rulings when statutory invalidity is dispositive.

## Conclusion

The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed invalidation of Ely’s 1978 zoning ordinance because the City failed to adopt zoning regulations in accordance with an actual comprehensive plan as required by Iowa Code § 414.3, making the ordinance unenforceable without reaching the constitutional exclusionary-zoning claim.


Wolf v. City of Ely, 493 N.W.2d 846 (Iowa 1992)