Opinion ID: 4514933
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: analysis

Text: {¶ 19} We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. Turner v. CertainTeed Corp., 155 Ohio St.3d 149, 2018-Ohio-3869, 119 N.E.3d 1260, ¶ 11. {¶ 20} The dispute in this case focuses on two of the statutes discussed above. R.C. 519.02(A) prohibits a township from regulating mining activities for any reason other than “the interest of public health or safety,” while R.C. 519.141(A) permits the BZA to “require    compliance with any general standards contained in the zoning resolution that apply to all conditional uses.” We must determine whether a general standard that does not relate to public health or safety may be applied to deny an application to conduct mining as a conditional use. {¶ 21} CBCC argues that a general standard that does not relate to public health or safety cannot be applied to deny a conditional-use application to engage in mining activities and that the Fourth District erred by holding to the contrary. CBCC asserts that because R.C. 519.02(A) expressly limits township trustees’ power to regulate mining to matters in the interest of public health and safety, no zoning regulation concerning interests unrelated to public health and safety, such as general welfare, can provide a basis for denying a mining application. {¶ 22} Appellees Harrison Township, the BZA, and the township zoning inspector respond by asserting that R.C. 519.141(A) reflects a grant of power to the township trustees that is not eclipsed by R.C. 519.02. They argue that by expressly permitting the BZA to “require    compliance with any general standards contained in the zoning resolution that apply to all conditional uses,” R.C. 519.141(A), the statute permits the trustees to adopt general standards in the interest of general welfare that are applicable to conditional-use applications to engage in mining. 9 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO {¶ 23} Appellee Berger Health System additionally argues that the General Assembly easily could have included an exception or limiting language making clear that R.C. 519.141(A) permitted the application of general standards to mining applications only insofar as they are in the interest of public health and safety but that it did not do so. Instead, Berger argues, R.C. 519.141(A) permits the application of “any” general standards. {¶ 24} We agree with CBCC. {¶ 25} Because a township’s authority to adopt zoning regulations “ ‘is limited to that which is expressly delegated    by statute,’ ” Bainbridge Twp. Bd. of Trustees, 55 Ohio St.3d at 108, 563 N.E.2d 717, quoting Yorkavitz, 166 Ohio St. at 351, 142 N.E.2d 655, our analysis of whether the General Standards may be applied to deny CBCC’s application must begin by recognizing the limited scope of the powers granted to the trustees by the General Assembly. R.C. 519.02(A) is clear that township trustees may adopt resolutions pertaining to mining activities regulated under R.C. Chapters 1513 and 1514 “under the authority conferred by this section only in the interest of public health and safety.” (Emphasis added.) Any exercise of the township trustees’ regulatory powers under R.C. 519.02 must be consistent with this limitation. {¶ 26} R.C. 519.141(A) does not expand or limit township trustees’ regulatory power. It first prohibits a board of zoning appeals from considering “matters that are regulated by any federal, state, or local agency.” The language to which appellees point is then stated as an exception to this rule: “However, the board may require as a condition of the approval of a conditional zoning certificate for [an R.C. Chapter 1514 mining] activity compliance with any general standards contained in the zoning resolution that apply to all conditional uses.”2 (Emphasis 2. As noted above, R.C. 519.141(A) also permits the board to impose “any specified measure,” including eight listed measures, the last of which is “[a]ny other measure reasonably related to public health and safety.” 10 January Term, 2020 added.) Any general standards with which the board may require compliance under R.C. 519.141(A) must be adopted pursuant to powers granted to township trustees elsewhere in the Revised Code. {¶ 27} Furthermore, R.C. 519.141(A) does not provide a board of zoning appeals with a basis for denying an application to engage in mining when the application fails to meet a township’s general conditions. R.C. 519.141(A) simply provides that the board may not consider “matters that are regulated by any federal, state, or local agency,” but it may require compliance with general standards “as a condition of the approval.”3 {¶ 28} This analysis leads to two conclusions relevant to the outcome of the present appeal. First, because township trustees may regulate mining under R.C. 519.02(A) only in the interest of public health and safety, when the BZA considers an application to engage in mining activities, it may require compliance with the General Standards only insofar as doing so is in the interest of public health and safety.4 Second, even when compliance with the General Standards is in the interest of public health and safety, the BZA may require compliance with those standards only as conditions of the approval of an application. The BZA may not deny an application to engage in mining when it finds the applicant has not established compliance with those standards. 3. We reject Berger Health System’s argument that CBCC’s application was properly denied because R.C. 519.141(A), as the later-enacted statute, governs over R.C. 519.02(A) and permits the denial of CBCC’s application. Because the two statutes address different subjects—one addresses trustees’ regulatory powers while the other addresses the board of zoning appeals’ miningapplication review process—there is no need to consider whether one governs over the other. 4. This principle applies equally to other resolutions adopted by the Harrison Township Board of Trustees pursuant to R.C. 519.02(A). Resolutions based on other interests, such as general welfare, cannot be applied to activities regulated under R.C. Chapters 1513 and 1514. Furthermore, provisions potentially based on multiple interests, at least one of which is public health or safety, may be applied to such activities only to the extent doing so is in the interest of public health and safety. 11 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO {¶ 29} We therefore hold that the Fourth District erred by holding that compliance with the General Standards is required irrespective of whether such compliance is in the interest of public health and safety and by holding that the absence of such compliance provides a basis for denying CBCC’s application.