Opinion ID: 1710689
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: Lincoln Township (Township) challenges the jurisdiction of this Court and the trial court to adjudicate the issues presented. Township claims Premium has failed to exhaust its administrative remedies because it has failed to pursue an appeal for a variance permit to the Lincoln Township Board of Zoning Adjustment before seeking review by the courts. Premium contends that it did not need to exhaust these administrative remedies because it raises solely a legal challenge to the authority of the township to impose the regulations in question. Exhaustion of administrative remedies is generally required before a court may assume jurisdiction of a matter where a remedy is available through administrative procedures. Council House Redevelopment Corp. v. Hill, 920 S.W.2d 890, 892 (Mo. banc 1996) (As a general rule, courts will refrain from acting until the litigants have exhausted all available administrative remedies provided by statute.). This principle is founded upon the theory that agencies have special expertise and a factual record can be developed more fully by pursuing the designated channels for relief within the agency. The issue also may be resolved through the procedures set forth by the agency for resolution of complaints, thereby rendering unnecessary review by the courts. Nevertheless, several exceptions to the general requirement of exhaustion have been recognized by the courts of this state. Where no adequate remedy lies through the administrative process, the court will not require exhaustion. Glencoe Lime & Cement Co. v. City of St. Louis, 341 Mo. 689, 108 S.W.2d 143, 144 (1937); City of St. Ann v. Elam, 661 S.W.2d 632 (Mo.Ct.App.1983). Where the authority of the political subdivision to impose particular regulations is challenged, the courts may review the issue, although the parties have not pursued their complaint through the administrative process set forth in the zoning regulations. Missouri Rock, Inc. v. Winholtz, 614 S.W.2d 734, 738 (Mo.Ct.App.1981). And where the validity of agency rules or the threatened application thereof is at issue, an action for a declaratory judgment may be maintained against agencies whether or not the plaintiff has first requested the agency to pass upon the question presented. Rule 87.02(c). This Court has held that exhaustion of administrative remedies is unnecessary when the authority of a municipal corporation to enact certain regulations under the statutory enabling acts granting it the power to zone is challenged. State ex rel. Kramer v. Schwartz, 336 Mo. 932, 82 S.W.2d 63, 69 (Mo.1935). Township argues that Westside Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Dexter, 559 S.W.2d 638 (Mo.Ct.App.1977), and similar cases stand for the proposition that attacks on the application or validity of zoning regulations must be pursued in the first instance through the administrative procedures set forth by the zoning authority. The preliminary issue in Westside Enterprises , however, was whether the land at issue was actually zoned residential as opposed to commercial. The court observed that if the issue had been appealed through the administrative procedures set forth by statute, determination of the classification could have been made and might have resolved the entire controversy without resort to the courts. The factual issue of whether the zoning authority had placed the tract in a residential or commercial zone was a key question presented. The precise purpose underlying the requirement of exhaustion of administrative remedies would have been served by pursuing an appeal through the administrative channels set forth by statute. Unlike that case, however, the issue presented in this case is not at all dependent upon further development of the record through administrative procedures. The facts have been admitted as to the nature of the hog confinement facilities and sewage lagoons. Moreover, Township has made clear in Count I of its counterclaim that feedlots and lagoons like those of Premium fall within the purview of its zoning regulations. Premium challenges the authority of Township to impose such regulations. The only issue to be determined is whether regulation of such structures is regulation of farm structures or farm buildings, an action township's are specifically not authorized to take under section 65.677, RSMo. This is a legal issue. Because the question... poses no factual questions or issues requiring the special expertise within the scope of the [administrative agency's] responsibility, but instead proffers only questions of law clearly within the realm of the courts, the doctrine of exhaustion does not apply in the present case. See 73 C.J.S. Public Administrative Law and Procedure Section 40 (`A failure to exhaust administrative remedies may be justified when the only or controlling question is one of law, at least where there is no issue essentially administrative, involving agency expertise and discretion, which is in its nature peculiarly administrative....'). Council House Redevelopment Corporation v. Hill, 920 S.W.2d 890, 895 (Mo. banc 1996). This issue requires no exhaustion of administrative remedies. Cf. Cervantes v. Bloom, 485 S.W.2d 446, 448 (Mo.Ct.App.1972); N.G. Heimos Greenhouse, Inc. v. City Of Sunset Hills, 597 S.W.2d 261, 263, n. 4 (Mo.Ct.App.1980).