Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs of Teton Cnty. v. Mackay Invs., LLC

413 P.3d 1120
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 28, 2018
DocketS-17-0184
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 413 P.3d 1120 (Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs of Teton Cnty. v. Mackay Invs., LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs of Teton Cnty. v. Mackay Invs., LLC, 413 P.3d 1120 (Wyo. 2018).

Opinion

BURKE, Chief Justice.

[¶1] Mackay Investments, LLC, filed a declaratory judgment against the Board of County Commissioners of Teton County, Wyoming, challenging the Teton County Land Development Regulation prohibiting fractional ownership of campgrounds. The district court granted summary judgment in Mackay's favor, ruling that the regulation was unenforceable because it was beyond the County's zoning authority. The Board appealed. We affirm.

ISSUE

[¶2] Does the Teton County Land Development Regulation prohibiting fractional ownership of campgrounds exceed the County's zoning authority?

FACTS

[¶3] The pertinent facts in this case are undisputed. Mackay owned and operated two campgrounds in Teton County, JH Fireside Resort and Buffalo Valley Fireside Resort. Long-term camping is prohibited at both campgrounds. Pursuant to a settlement agreement between Mackay and Teton County,1 "no person shall stay at the [JH Fireside Resort] for a period of longer than twenty-*1122nine (29) consecutive days in any sixty (60) day period." Under the terms of a conditional use permit for Buffalo Valley,2 the length of stay there is limited to "less than 30 days in any 90 day period." These limitations are generally consistent with Teton County Land Development Regulation § 6.1.5.D.2.d, which limits campsite occupancy to "less than 31 days in any 90-day period."

[¶4] In 2015, Mackay transferred undivided tenant in common fee ownership interests in JH Fireside Resort to twenty-one separate entities (FS JH 1 LLC through FS JH 21 LLC). Mackay retained an undivided tenant in common fee ownership interest in the campground. As a result, the JH Fireside Resort is now owned by twenty-two separate entities, each as a tenant in common with an undivided interest in the whole. After a similar transaction, Buffalo Valley Fireside Resort is also owned by twenty-two separate entities (Mackay and FS BV 1 LLC through FS BV 21 LLC) as undivided tenants in common.

[¶5] All campground owners are subject to Tenancy in Common Agreements, which assign each tenant in common access to several campsites. Each owner may choose to camp at one of its assigned campsites and rent out the rest. In the alternative, an owner may choose not to use any of its assigned spaces, and instead collect rental income for all of the spaces from other campers. The Agreements acknowledge that, pursuant to the settlement agreement and conditional use permit discussed above, there are limitations on the length of occupancy of any campsite by any one camper.

[¶6] In 2016, Teton County sent a Notice of Violation to Mackay,3 asserting that tenant in common ownership of the campgrounds violates a section of the Teton County Land Development Regulations that prohibits fractional ownership of campgrounds. The County asserted that tenant in common ownership is a prohibited type of fractional ownership. The County warned that if tenant in common interests in the campgrounds were sold to new owners, the County would take additional enforcement action, potentially including monetary penalties.

[¶7] In response, Mackay filed a declaratory judgment action in the district court seeking a determination that the Land Development Regulation in question exceeded Teton County's regulatory authority and was unenforceable. Teton County answered, asking for a ruling that the regulation was within the County's authority. Mackay filed a motion for summary judgment. The parties agreed that there were no disputed issues of material fact, and asked the district court to decide the case as a matter of law. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Mackay. This appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶8] Summary judgment is appropriate when there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Because summary judgment involves a purely legal determination, we undertake de novo review of a trial court's summary judgment decision. Fugle v. Sublette Cty. Sch. Dist. # 9 , 2015 WY 98, ¶ 5, 353 P.3d 732, 734 (Wyo. 2015).

DISCUSSION

[¶9] Section 6.1.5.D.2.f of the Teton County Land Development Regulations provides as follows: "Each of the campsites located at a campground shall be owned by the same entity that owns the campground. No fractional ownership, timeshares or membership of campsites is permitted." The County asserts that the tenant in common ownership of JH Fireside Resort and Buffalo Valley Fireside Resort violates this regulation. Mackay does not seriously dispute the violation, but contends that the regulation is illegal and unenforceable.

*1123[¶10] As we previously recognized, "Zoning is the process that a community employs to legally control the use which may be made of property and the physical configuration of development upon the tracts of land located within its jurisdiction." Ford v. Board of County Comm'rs , 924 P.2d 91, 94 (Wyo. 1996) (emphasis added). The County's general zoning authority is set forth in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 18-5-201 (LexisNexis 2015), which provides:

To promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the county, each board of county commissioners may regulate and restrict ... the use, condition of use or occupancy of lands for residence, recreation, agriculture, industry, commerce, public use and other purposes in the unincorporated area of the county.

As indicated by the statutory text, a county may regulate the "use" and "occupancy" of lands. The statute does not authorize a county to regulate the ownership of lands and, as we have recognized, "counties 'have no sovereignty independent from that of the state, and the only power available to them is the power that has been delegated to them by the state.' " Seherr-Thoss v. Teton County Bd. of County Comm'rs , 2014 WY 82, ¶ 24, 329 P.3d 936, 946 (Wyo. 2014) (quoting Ahearn v. Town of Wheatland , 2002 WY 12, ¶ 14, 39 P.3d 409, 415 (Wyo. 2002) ). Accordingly, a county's zoning authority does not include the right to regulate land ownership absent a showing that a change in ownership will result in a change in use. See 1 Rathkopf's The Law of Zoning and Planning § 2:16 (4th ed. 2017) ; FGL & L Prop. Corp. v.

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Bluebook (online)
413 P.3d 1120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bd-of-cnty-commrs-of-teton-cnty-v-mackay-invs-llc-wyo-2018.