DeKalb County v. Cooper Homes, 283 Ga. 111

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia held that Cooper Homes was required to exhaust its administrative remedy of appealing the denial of building permits to the DeKalb County Zoning Board of Appeals before seeking mandamus. The court rejected the trial court's application of the futility exception because the permit appeal would present a different issue from the previously denied variance request. It reversed the mandamus order, vacated the declaratory judgment concerning nonconforming lots, and remanded the case.

Holdings

1. A petitioner generally must exhaust an available administrative remedy before seeking mandamus, unless pursuing that remedy would be a futile act because it would result in review of the same issue by the same body.
2. The superior court erred by addressing the merits of and granting Cooper Homes's mandamus petition before the required administrative remedy was exhausted.
3. The declaratory judgment was premature and had to be vacated because the superior court did not analyze whether the legal-nonconforming-lot status survived the reconfiguration and combination of the original lots.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Cooper Homes was required to exhaust its administrative appeal from the planning and development department's denial of building permits before seeking mandamus.
2. Whether the administrative appeal was futile because the Zoning Board of Appeals had previously denied Cooper Homes's variance applications.
3. Whether the superior court properly granted mandamus directing the county to process and approve the building-permit applications.
4. Whether the superior court properly issued a declaratory judgment that the county zoning ordinance permitted construction on the reconfigured nonconforming lots without variances.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded