Opinion ID: 2631823
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Legitimacy of the MOA's interest

Text: The trial court found that the MOA has a legitimate interest in [its] land use decisions: The land use decisions here have to do with the protection of wetlands. The passage of the CWA as well as of the state ACMP and the municipal AWMP all speak to the legitimacy of the governmental action. There has certainly been a diminution of the total acreage of wetlands in the Anchorage area since the 1950's and because such wetlands are a valuable resource in and by themselves, the MOA has a legitimate interest in such land use decisions. The landowners do not challenge this finding. We therefore accept this finding for purposes of this appeal. But given the importance of this factor to the trial court's analysis, we also note that no plausible argument could be made that the MOA has no legitimate interest in land-use decisions concerning wetlands.