Opinion ID: 884137
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Applicable regulations

Text: Skinner Enterprises next argues the court erred in denying its petition because, even if the soil permeability rate on each parcel in Green Acres exceeded 20.0 inches per hour, the on-site wastewater treatment regulations in effect in 1990 indicated that shallowcapped drainfields were in fact appropriate. In support of this assertion, Skinner Enterprises points to § 76-3-501(2), MCA, pursuant to which [r]eview and approval or disapproval of a subdivision under this chapter may occur only under those regulations in effect at the time an application for approval of a preliminary plat or for an extension under 76-3-310 is submitted to the governing body. Skinner Enterprises notes that the Lewis and Clark County Commissioners approved the Green Acres Subdivision preliminary plat on July 6, 1990, at which time the Lewis and Clark County Board of Health's on-site wastewater treatment regulations mandated shallow standard treatments systems. In contrast with the present regulation upon which the Board premised its decision to require intermittent sand filters at Green Acres, that regulation in effect in 1990 provided that: In those areas where there is known or potential groundwater at less than 10 feet from the natural ground surface during part or all of the year, and the soil permeability is greater than 20.0 inches per hour, a shallow standard treatment field installation shall be mandatory. (Emphasis added.) As noted, Skinner Enterprises argues for application of this 1990 regulation pursuant to § 76-3-501(2). By its terms, § 76-3-501(2), MCA, applies specifically to review and approval or disapproval undertaken pursuant to Title 76, chapter 3. In light of our holding that local boards of health derive authority to regulate subdivisions from § 50-2-116(1)(i), MCA, but not from Title 76, chapter 3, we conclude that § 76-3-501(2), MCA, does not mandate that the Board apply that regulation in effect in 1990. Based on the foregoing, we conclude the District Court did not err in concluding, in effect, that the Board's own on-site wastewater treatment regulations did not obligate the Board to approve shallow-capped drainfields for the Green Acres subdivision.