Opinion ID: 877492
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: background of the lawsuit

Text: The land involved, Cameron Tract, is on the north end of the City of Kalispell and is surrounded on three sides by the boundaries of the City. The City has never annexed the tract, and, as we shall later explain, the City cannot legally do so, nor has this land ever been zoned. In 1974, the City of Kalispell adopted a master plan for this area, which recommends that this tract be zoned medium-density residential. In 1978, a joint City of Kalispell-Flathead County Master Plan was adopted for this same area, and it also recommends that the land be zoned medium-density residential. In fact, the 1978 master plan simply adopts the 1974 master plan. The City has proceeded to zone most of the City of Kalispell pursuant to its own 1974 master plan. The land surrounding Cameron Tract has been zoned residential. In December 1975, Flathead County adopted a detailed set of zoning regulations that applied to that part of the County in the Kalispell-City County Planning Board jurisdictional area. That action by the County prevents the City of Kalispell from promulgating and enforcing its own zoning ordinances anywhere outside the city limits. (See, section 76-2-310(1), MCA.) If the County had not done this, the City would have had certain limited rights to promulgate and enforce its own zoning ordinances outside its actual city boundaries (section 76-2-311, MCA). The important point here is that the City has applied its zoning ordinances to all city property, but Flathead County has not applied its zoning ordinances to all county property. In 1978, Flathead County adopted a comprehensive development plan for the entire county, and this included the 1974 master plan adopted by the City to cover the area which it had a right to plan. (The parties have not stated whether this 1978 comprehensive development plan is a master plan or some other planning device.) In any event, in adopting this comprehensive plan in 1978 by Resolution 291, the commissioners also adopted in the same resolution an official policy of zoning property only upon specific petition of the owners who wanted a particular zoning classification. This policy has had a dual effect. First, the majority of the County property in the area remains unzoned. Second, even where it is zoned within the Kalispell-City County Planning Board jurisdictional area, the zoning is very haphazard and extremely selective. The trial court best characterized the inevitable result of such a policy by stating that Resolution 291 is the most flagrant invitation to spot zoning that one could come across ... For these reasons, Cameron Tract, although within the Kalispell-City County Planning Board jurisdictional area, and designated as residential by the 1974 master plan, has not been zoned and therefore remains in a twilight zone. The Developers stepped into this twilight zone with their plans for a regional enclosed shopping center. Recognizing the policy of the county commissioners inherent in Resolution 291, the Developers acquired a sufficient interest in Cameron Tract, and petitioned the county commissioners to zone the land as commercial. Because Cameron Tract is unzoned, the Developers assumed that there were no use restrictions preventing the construction of a shopping center on the land. But they were faced with the obstacle of getting water and sewage services for the shopping center. That problem indirectly raised the problem of zoning. Although Cameron Tract is within the County, the county commissioners adopted a policy requiring that city water and sewage services be used if they are reasonably available. So, the Developers first had to determine if these services were reasonably available. City water and sewer lines ran under Cameron Tract. The Developers asked the City for hook-ups to its water and sewer lines, but City ordinances and state statutes stood in the way. The ordinances make City services available only after annexation of the property into the City. The ordinances also state that any annexation and zoning classification within the City must be consistent with the City-County Comprehensive Plan (the master plan). This plan recommended that Cameron Tract be classified as medium-density residential. This meant that before a shopping center could be built on Cameron Tract, the master plan would first have to be amended. The Developers asked for an amendment to accommodate the shopping center, but on October 1, 1979, the City-County Planning Board, voted five to three to keep the plan as it was. As a result, the Developers could not get water and sewer services from the City. This meant that the Developers could apply to the County to provide the water and sewage services. The county commissioners cooperated and granted the Developers an on-site water and sewage disposal permit. The Developers have always proceeded on the assumption that they could build the shopping centeror anything elseon Cameron Tract because it was unzoned. Nonetheless, they petitioned the county commissioners to either amend the master plan to permit a commercial classification or to zone Cameron Tract as commercial. The Developers also submitted their building plans and applied to the City for a building permit for the proposed shopping center. By statute, the City is given certain extraterritorial jurisdiction to process building permits and enforce building code regulations. See, section 50-60-106, MCA. The mandatory procedure for the creation of zoning districts or promulgation of applicable zoning regulations, is set out in section 76-2-205, MCA, and it includes public notice and a hearing. Notice was given and a hearing was held. City of Kalispell officials appeared and recommended against the zoning application because the master plan for the area designated the land as residential rather than commercial. On December 7, 1979, three days after the public hearing, the county commissioners adopted a resolution of intent to zone Cameron Tract as commercial. In doing so, however, they failed to take a mandatory step. Before a zoning district can be created, section 76-2-204, MCA, requires that the board of county commissioners shall require the county planning board and the city-county planning board to recommend boundaries and appropriate regulations for the various zoning districts. In addition, the statute requires the county and the city-county planning board to make written reports of their recommendations to the board of county commissioners, but also provides that such recommendations are advisory only. The commissioners neither demanded, requested, nor received written recommendations from the city-county planning board before they adopted the resolution of intent. Without these recommendations, the county commissioners had no right to proceed with its resolution of intent to zone Cameron Tract as commercial. The applicable statutes clearly mandate that the planning board's recommendations be considered before the commissioners can proceed with a resolution of intent. Section 76-2-205(3) states: After the public hearing, the board of county commissioners shall review the proposals of the planning board and shall make such revisions or amendments as it may deem proper. (Emphasis added.) This step in subsection (3) must be taken before the commissioners can proceed to subsection (4) which gives the commissioners the power to adopt the resolution of intent. Although the plaintiffs did not rely at trial on the County's failure to involve the planning board, it is nonetheless clear on the face of the record that the Commissioners' action was invalid. Once a resolution of intent to zone is passed, sections 76-2-205(5) and (6), MCA, also prescribe mandatory steps to be taken before a zoning district can be created or regulations promulgated. Subsection (5) provides for the method of giving public notice and sets out the contents of such notice. The commissioners complied with this subsection. There is also a 30-day period in which the proposed action can be protested, and, at the end of that period, the commissioners can either create the zoning district and promulgate applicable regulations, or they can decide against the resolution. However, only those within the proposed zoning area can contest the proposed action. Section 76-2-205(6), MCA. If 40 percent of the landowners within the affected area protest, the resolution cannot be adopted and the commissioners cannot again take action on another zoning resolution for that area for at least one year. Because the Developers owned the entire tract on which the commercial zoning was requested, no one could protest. The plaintiffs, all of whom own land adjacent to Cameron Tract, had no statutory basis to contest the commissioners' proposed action to zone Cameron Tract as commercial. The plaintiffs were also faced with another immediate official decision affecting Cameron Tract. While the county commissioners were processing the Developers' zoning request, the Developers had also applied to the City of Kalispell for a building permit, and the issuance of this permit was imminent, although not legal, as we shall later explain. The building code requires that the appropriate officials determine if the building site (Cameron Tract here) is in compliance with  applicable laws ... and  other pertinent laws and ordinances ... (Kalispell City Ordinance, Uniform Building Code, § 303(a).) Because Cameron Tract was unzoned, city officials had assumed there were no use restrictions, thus they were in the later stages of processing the building permit application and checking for technical compliance with the building codes. In anticipation of receiving the building permit, the Developers moved heavy machinery onto Cameron Tract to grade the land in preparation for the start of construction. There is some evidence that the Developers had also started groundbreaking. This was the situation when the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit asking the District Court to enjoin the commissioners from zoning Cameron Tract as commercial, and asking the court to enjoin the City of Kalispell from issuing the building permit. Additional plaintiffs later joined the lawsuit and asked for the same relief against the County and the City. The plaintiffs obtained first a temporary restraining order, later a temporary injunction, and, after a hearing on the merits, a final order and injunction stopping the county commissioners from zoning Cameron Tract as commercial, and stopping the City of Kalispell from issuing the building permit to the developers.