Opinion ID: 901335
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Elliott's Issues on Appeal

Text: [¶8.] Elliott claims on appeal to this Court that the essential legal issue is whether the County acted unlawfully in imposing additional conditions for a building permit beyond those specified by the Lake County Zoning Ordinances. Elliott claims (1) that his building permit application was complete and effective on August 31, 2001, (2) that the pre-amended ordinances and regulations apply to his application, (3) that the Commissioners lacked the discretion to deny his application, and (4) that the trial court erred in retroactively applying conditional use criteria. He argues that the Commissioners were bound by the zoning regulations in place at the time of Elliott's application. He argues that the Zoning Officer, under Zoning regulation § 802.2, had authority to grant or deny a building permit but did not have discretion to delegate her authority. He argues that the Officer's act was ministerial. He additionally argues that the Commissioners' authority, if any, was strictly limited to reviewing his application for the purpose of determining whether the application complied with the standards set forth by Lake County Zoning Regulation § 802.2. He relies on our prior decisions for the proposition that the Commissioners lacked discretion to deny the application. See In re Conditional Use Permit Granted to Van Zanten, 1999 SD 79, ¶16, 598 N.W.2d 861, 865; Schrank v. Pennington County Bd. of Comm'rs, 1998 SD 108, ¶19, 584 N.W.2d 680, 683; Save Centennial Valley Ass'n., Inc. v. Schultz, 284 N.W.2d 452, 457 (S.D.1979). Neither the Zoning Officer nor the Commissioners, he argues, had discretion to consider factors not contained in the ordinance.