City Hall wants an East Dallasย auto mechanic to pay for his defiance.
The city of Dallas filed a lawsuit Tuesday in state district court that seeksย finesย of up to $1,000 for each dayย Hinga Mbogo
has operated his Ross Avenue repair shop without a specific-use permit. Mbogo’s permit expired Aug. 14, 2015, meaning he could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The City Council voted in April toย shutter Mbogo’sย business as a finishing touch toย an 11-year-old rezoning effort.ย Mbogo, who was out of town Tuesday, has ignored the council’s decision and continued to fix cars at his shop.
Mbogo, whoseย case won support fromย libertarian property rights group Institute for Justice, has said he should be able to continue running his 30-year-old business. The libertarian legal group hasย vowed to fight as long as it can on the lawsuit, calling the city’s zoning rules unconstitutional in Texas.
“We will take them all the way to the Texas Supreme Court if that’s necessary,” said Ari Bargil, an Institute for Justice attorney.
If Mbogo’s advocates are successful, courtsย could strike down the zoning law that put Mbogo in City Hall’s crossย hairs in the first place.
Mbogo’s battle began in 2005, when the City Council voted to change its zoning in the Bryan Place areaย to forbid the auto repair shops and used car lots that had filled up Ross Avenue northeast of the downtown Arts District.
The retroactive zoning process, called amortization, is rarely used in Dallas. Even the area’sย council member Philip Kingston, whoย voted against Mbogo, called the zoning rule “harsh.”
But supporters of the amortization noted thatย changes helped redevelop the area, which meant the car shops were junked in favor ofย restaurants, a coffee shop and new apartment complexes. Mbogo, a Kenyan immigrant,ย and his supporters have scoffed at the gentrification.
In 2013, Mbogoย won a two-year extension of his specific-use permit to stay in business. Inย exchange, he gave his wordย that he wouldn’t come back to City Hall and ask for another extension.
But in November, months after his permit had expired, Mbogoย asked for another extension. He came armed with a Change.org petition with 90,000 signatures of support and the Institute for Justice’s lawyers. Neighborhood activistsย opposed his new permit, insinuating that Mbogo wasn’t trustworthy.
The Institute for Justice considered filing its own lawsuit against the city on Mbogo’s behalf. The groupย hasย compared amortization to eminent domain. But it isn’t exactly the same; the government isn’t takingย Mbogo’s property from him. He just can’t run an auto repair shop in that spot.
That still isn’t fair, Bargil said.
“He took possession of the property with certain expectations,” Bargil said. “In the middle of the game, the city moved the goalposts on him.”
Bargil said he’s never fought amortization in court before, but the group sees Mbogo’s case as a righteous fight that Bargil acknowledged could take years.ย He said Mbogo is ready for the fight, too.
Mbogoย is already mired in another legal fight. His former business partner is still listed as a part ownerย to the 1.9-acreย property. Mbogo filed a lawsuit to kick him off the title, saying the manย abandoned the business years ago.
