Southern California District Council v. Shepherd of Hills Evangelical Lutheran Church

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment in favor of defendants, entered after the granting of defendants’ motion for summary judgment.

Facts

The facts, as revealed by the pleadings and the declarations filed in support of and in opposition to the motion for summary judgment are these:

In early 1969 the defendant church (Shepherd) owned two parcels in the northwest corner of Foothill Boulevard and Santa Anita Avenue in the City of Arcadia. Parcel 1, the comer property, was occupied by a gas station leased to Atlantic-Rich field (ARCO). Parcel 2, to the west, was improved with an existing church building and a parking lot. Physical access to the parking lot was gained by a driveway which entered parcel 2 on Foothill and another driveway which entered the Shepherd property on Santa Anita and reached the parking lot by crossing parcel 1.

In 1962, when Shepherd desired to build its church on parcel 2, it had to request a zone variance from the City of Arcadia. The request was accompanied by a map which showed the driveway across parcel 1 to the parking lot on parcel 2. The variance was granted on condition that “the entire development shall conform substantially with the plot…