§ 28-34-01 — Appeals from local governing bodies - Procedures

This section, to the extent that it is not inconsistent with procedural rules adopted by the
North Dakota supreme court, governs any appeal provided by statute from the decision of a
local governing body, except those court reviews provided under sections 2-04-11 and
40-51.2-15. For the purposes of this section, "local governing body" includes any officer, board,
commission, resource or conservation district, or other political subdivision. Each appeal is
governed by the following procedure:
1. The notice of appeal must be filed with the clerk of the court within thirty days after the
decision of the local governing body. A copy of the notice of appeal must be served on
the local governing body in the manner provided by rule 4 of the North Dakota Rules of
Civil Procedure.
2. The appellee shall prepare and file a single copy of the record on appeal with the
court. Within thirty days, or such longer time as the court by order may direct, after the
notice of appeal has been filed in the court, and after the deposit by the appellant of
the estimated cost of a transcript of the evidence, the local governing body shall
prepare and file in the office of the clerk of the court in which the appeal is pending the
original or a certified copy of the entire proceedings before the local governing body, or
such abstract of the record as may be agreed upon and stipulated by the parties,
including the pleadings, notices, transcripts of all testimony taken, exhibits, reports or
memoranda, exceptions or objections, briefs, findings of fact, proposed findings of fact
submitted to the local governing body, and the decision of the local governing body in
the proceedings. If the notice of appeal specifies that no exception or objection is
made to the local governing body's findings of fact, and that the appeal is concerned
only with the local governing body's conclusions based on the facts found by it, the
evidence submitted at the hearing before the local governing body must be omitted
from the record filed in the court. The court may permit amendments or additions to the
record to complete the record.
3. If the court determines on its own motion or if an application for leave to adduce
additional evidence is made to the court in which an appeal from a determination from
a local governing body is pending, and it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that
such additional evidence is material and that there are reasonable grounds for the
failure to adduce such evidence in the hearing or proceeding had before the local
governing body, or that such evidence is material to the issues involved and was
rejected or excluded by the local governing body, the court may order that such
additional evidence be taken, heard, and considered by the local governing body on
such terms and conditions as the court may determine. After considering the additional
evidence, the local governing body may amend or modify its decision and shall file
with the court a transcript of the additional evidence together with its new or modified
decision, if any.