Giltner Dairy, LLC v. Jerome County

249 P.3d 358, 150 Idaho 559, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 50
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 17, 2011
Docket36528
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 249 P.3d 358 (Giltner Dairy, LLC v. Jerome County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Giltner Dairy, LLC v. Jerome County, 249 P.3d 358, 150 Idaho 559, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 50 (Idaho 2011).

Opinions

HORTON, Justice.

Giltner Dairy operates a dairy adjacent to property owned by 93 Golf Ranch (Golf Ranch). In July 2008, Golf Ranch requested a rezone of its property. The Jerome County commissioners approved the rezone and Giltner Dairy sought judicial review of that decision. The district court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, finding that this Court’s decision in Highlands Development Corp. v. City of Boise, 145 Idaho 958, 188 P.3d 900 (2008), precluded the use of I.C. § 67-6521 to allow judicial review of the case, and that the more specific judicial review provisions of the Local Land Use Planning Act (LLUPA, I.C. §§ 67-6501 et seq.) controlled over the more general provisions of I.C. § 31-1506. Giltner Dairy now appeals. We affirm.

[560]*560I.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Giltner Dairy and Golf Ranch own adjacent parcels of property in Jerome County, Idaho. Prior to the actions leading to this case, both parcels were zoned Agricultural Zone A-l.

On November 4, 2005, Golf Ranch asked the Jerome County Planning and Zoning Commission to amend the comprehensive plan map to indicate that the suitable projected uses for Golf Ranch’s land would be consistent with the A-2 Agricultural zoning designation. That designation is for land that is changing from primarily agricultural activities to more urban activities.

Giltner Dairy, LLC v. Jerome Cnty. (Giltner Dairy I), 145 Idaho 680, 631, 181 P.3d 1238, 1239 (2008). Giltner Dairy challenged that decision and, after the district court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, this Court affirmed. Id. at 633,181 P.3d at 1241.

In 2008, Golf Ranch filed an application to rezone its property from Agricultural Zone A-l to Agricultural Zone A-2 and the county approved the application. On January 15, 2009, Giltner Dairy filed a timely petition for judicial review. Golf Ranch moved to dismiss, arguing that the district court did not have jurisdiction. Giltner Dairy argued that the district court had jurisdiction based on I.C. § 67-6521 or, in the alternative, based on I.C. § 31-1506. Following oral argument, the district court found that this Court’s holding in Highlands Development Corp. v. City of Boise, 145 Idaho 958, 188 P.3d 900 (2008), precluded application of I.C. § 67-6521 and that the specific judicial review provisions for zoning decisions in LLUPA displaced the broad jurisdictional grant in I.C. § 31-1506. Consequently, the district court dismissed Giltner Dairy’s petition for judicial review. Giltner Dairy timely appealed.

II.STANDARD OF REVIEW

“The issue of whether the district court had jurisdiction over this action is one of law, over which this Court exercises free review.” Troupis v. Summer, 148 Idaho 77, 79, 218 P.3d 1138, 1140 (2009) (citing Taylor v. Maile, 146 Idaho 705, 709, 201 P.3d 1282, 1286 (2009)). “A party’s right to ‘appeal’ an administrative decision, i.e., to obtain judicial review, is governed by statute.” Burns Holdings, LLC v. Madison Cnty. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’rs, 147 Idaho 660, 662, 214 P.3d 646, 648 (2009) (citing Cobbley v. City of Challis, 143 Idaho 130, 133, 139 P.3d 732, 735 (2006)). Likewise, “[t]he interpretation of a statute is a question of law over which this Court exercises free review.” Neighbors for Responsible Growth v. Kootenai Cnty., 147 Idaho 173, 176, 207 P.3d 149, 152 (2009) (citing State v. Hart, 135 Idaho 827, 829, 25 P.3d 850, 852 (2001)).

III.ANALYSIS

A. Idaho Code § 31-1506 is supplanted by the judicial review provisions of LLU-PA.

The only question on appeal is a pure question of law: can a party affected by a Board of County Commissioners’ decision under LLUPA seek judicial review using the general jurisdictional grant of I.C. § 31-1506 where LLUPA does not explicitly authorize judicial review?

Idaho Code § 31-1506, within the chapter entitled “County Finances and Claims Against County,” states:

(1) Unless otherwise provided by law, judicial review of any act, order or proceeding of the board shall be initiated by any person aggrieved thereby within the same time and in the same manner as provided in chapter 52, title 67, Idaho Code, for judicial review of actions.

Within LLUPA, I.C. § 67-6521 grants the right of judicial review to “affected persons,” which, at the time Giltner Dairy sought judicial review, was defined as “one having an interest in real property which may be adversely affected by the issuance or denial of a permit authorizing the development.” I.C. § 67-6521 (2008).1 The use of the word permit, the Court has held, precludes judicial review in instances where a zoning appliea[561]*561tion is at issue. Highlands Development, 145 Idaho at 961-62, 188 P.3d at 903-04.

Other provisions within LLUPA authorize judicial involvement in matters of land use planning, including Idaho Code § 67-6511(d), which provides that property owners whose zoning status is changed within four years following a zoning determination shall have standing to enforce the provisions of I.C. § 67-6511, and I.C. § 67-6526(b), which allows counties or cities to seek a declaratory judgment “identifying the area of city impact, and plan and ordinance requirements.” Idaho Code § 67-6519 and I.C. § 67-6520 authorize judicial review under the procedures described in I.C. § 67-6521.2 In addition, Jerome County points to I.C. § 67-6510, which provides for mediation, and I.C. § 67-6533(d), allowing restraining orders against businesses selling “obscene materials” near schools, churches, or places of worship, as further evidence that LLUPA’s judicial review provisions were intended to be the exclusive statutory bases for judicial review.

This Court has given an expansive reading to I.C. § 31-1506, notwithstanding the fact that the provision is included in a chapter that addresses county finances. See, e.g., In re Bennion, 97 Idaho 764, 554 P.2d 942 (1976) (decision approving property development); Rural High Sch. Dist. No. 1 v. Sch. Dist. No. 37, 32 Idaho 325, 182 P. 859 (1919) (order changing school district boundaries); Village of Ilo v. Ramey,

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Giltner Dairy, LLC v. Jerome County
249 P.3d 358 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
249 P.3d 358, 150 Idaho 559, 2011 Ida. LEXIS 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/giltner-dairy-llc-v-jerome-county-idaho-2011.