Mitcheltree

In June of 1968 defendant city, through its department of airports, filed with defendant planning commission an application for a conditional use permit pursuant to the provisions of section 12.24, Los Angeles Municipal Code, which would authorize the construction of hangars (assertedly 10 stories in height to accommodate jet planes) and other commercial buildings on residentially zoned land adjacent to plaintiffs’ homes. After a hearing, defendant commission approved the conditional use, and plaintiffs thereafter exhausted their administrative remedies; they then sought a peremptory writ of mandate commanding defendant commission to set aside its decision in the proceeding. The trial court ordered the writ to issue, and defendants have appealed from the judgment.

The basis of the court’s decision was that defendant commission had acted in excess of its jurisdiction and failed to proceed in the manner required by law (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5, subd. (b)); more specifically, at the time of the approval of the conditional use there was no approved land use plan for the property involved and, therefore, no adequate legislative standard which the commission could, and did,…