Opinion ID: 889368
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The initial rezone

Text: ¶ 6 Duane and Mary E. Urquhart and Scott and Linda Urquhart (Urquharts) sought a zone change from Agricultural (A-2) to Heavy Industrial (I-2) for 668 acres of land in the northeast portion of Cascade County. The Urquharts submitted their rezoning application on October 30, 2007, to allow for the construction and operation of SME's proposed coal-fired power plant, known as the Highwood Generating Station (HGS). SME changed its proposal for the HGS to a natural gas fired plant following the Department of Environmental Quality's revocation of SME's air quality permit. The Urquharts and SME participated jointly in the preparation of the application for rezoning. The Urquharts had agreed to sell the property to SME before the County approved the rezone. ¶ 7 The Urquharts' rezone application claimed that the requested zoning to heavy industrial use is a prerequisite to the planned construction and operation of an electric generating station. The Cascade County Planning Department adopted and made public its initial Staff Report on November 19, 2007 (Staff Report). The Staff Report described the surrounding land uses as agricultural for more than twenty acres in every direction. Approximately 200 acres of the land fell within the boundaries of the Lewis and Clark Great Falls Portage National Historic Landmark. The Staff Report cited the Urquharts' attempt to take advantage of the Tax Increment Financing mechanisms provided in state statutes as the primary reason that the Urquharts had requested rezoning. ¶ 8 The Staff Report acknowledged that the construction and operation of the HGS would be out of character with the existing agricultural land uses in the vicinity of the proposed rezoning. The Staff Report noted, however, that construction and operation of the HGS would not necessarily be out of character with the land uses allowed under the existing A-2 zoning district. (Emphasis added). The Staff Report based this conclusion on the fact that the A-2 zone permitted electrical generation facilities through the special use permit process. As a result, the Staff Report determined that the rezoning is not necessary to accommodate the HGS facility, as such a use is permissible with a special use permit. The Staff Report further noted that the actual construction of any structures or development of the property would require a zoning location-conformance permit. ¶ 9 SME submitted a letter on January 9, 2008, in response to the Staff Report and the Planning Board's report to the Commissioners. SME's letter contained eleven proposed conditions that were intended to address the Planning Board's comments. The SME letter contained, in pertinent part, an agreement by SME that as a condition of rezoning to heavy industrial use, such use shall be solely for purposes of an electrical power plant. ¶ 10 Plains Grains claims to have been unaware of the SME letter until the Commission's public hearing on the proposed rezone on January 15, 2008. SME submitted an array of documentation at the public hearing, including a traffic impact study, a baseline noise study, a report on the health impacts of coal-fired power plants, a property appraisal report, and a landscape plan. The County adopted a resolution of intent on January 31, 2008, to rezone the Urquharts' property. ¶ 11 The resolution of intent incorporated by reference the eleven conditions offered in SME's letter. The County published notice of the resolution on four dates over the course of two weeks in February of 2008. The Commissioners met on March 11, 2008, to consider Final Resolution 08-22 to rezone the Urquharts' property from A-2 to I-2. The Commissioners adopted the Planning Board's report as their findings on the proposed rezone. More than 1900 citizens submitted comments on the proposed rezone. The Commission approved the motion to rezone.