Opinion ID: 887643
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Growth Policy

Text: ¶ 20 Neighbors contend that the Board's amendment of the Growth Policy without issuing independent findings of fact in support rendered its decision unlawful, an abuse of discretion, and arbitrary and capricious. They argue that the Planning Office's report cannot serve as a substitute in light of the fact that the staff prepared its report before the Board received more than 4,400 public comments and thus the report did not, and could not, address any of the concerns raised by the public. Neighbors assert that the Growth Policy language, statutory public participation provisions, and case law, taken together, required the Board to issue independent findings of fact in support of its decision. ¶ 21 We first examine the Growth Policy. In counties where a planning board has been created, the preeminent planning tool is the comprehensive jurisdiction-wide development plan, which is today known as a growth policy. A growth policy essentially surveys land use as it exists and makes recommendations for future planning. Citizen Advocates v. City Council, 2006 MT 47, ¶ 20, 331 Mont. 269, ¶ 20, 130 P.3d 1259, ¶ 20 (internal citations and quotations omitted). Neighbors argue that the Board must substantially comply with the Growth Policy and that the Growth Policy requires the Board to issue independent findings of fact. ¶ 22 Section 76-1-605, MCA, provides that a governing body must be guided by and give consideration to its growth policy. We held in Little v. Board of County Com'rs, Etc. (1981), 193 Mont. 334, 353, 631 P.2d 1282, 1293, that local government units must substantially comply with comprehensive master plans. We noted that strict compliance would prove unworkable, but that requiring no compliance at all would defeat the whole idea of planning. Little, 193 Mont. at 353, 631 P.2d at 1293. Although Little involved the role of comprehensive master plans in zoning decisions, the principles set forth in Little regarding the role of master plans when making future planning decisions apply with equal force here. See Ash Grove Cement Co. v. Jefferson County (1997), 283 Mont. 486, 496, 943 P.2d 85, 91 (applying substantial compliance standard to local government unit's adoption of local vicinity plans). The substantial compliance standard set forth in Little and affirmed in Ash Grove Cement incorporates the statutory standard in § 76-1-605, MCA, of being guided by and considering a growth policy. ¶ 23 We see no tension between these two standards and therefore agree with Neighbors that the Board must substantially comply with its Growth Policy. We struggle, however, with Neighbors's claim that substantial compliance with the Growth Policy obligates the Board to issue independent findings of fact. Neighbors rely on the following language from the Growth Policy in arguing the Board's lack of substantial compliance: A Plan, to be effective, must be used. Each time the Plan is consulted, because of an issue, those policies that are relevant should be identified. A finding should then be made as to the conformance of the identified policies to the issue. Where polices are not complied with or cannot be met, a specific finding should be made stating whether this is a clear violation of the policy or whether site conditions or extenuating circumstances exist and justify the violating of the policy or policies. [Emphasis added.] The question arises as to whether the Board substantially complied with the Growth Policy by identifying relevant issues and making findings regarding the conformance of the issues raised by the Wolford Amendment. ¶ 24 Neighbors further argue that the public participation provisions of the Growth Policy Act, §§ 76-1-602 through -604, MCA, contemplate that the Board consider issues identified through the public comment process. This consideration, argue Neighbors, includes having the Board incorporate issues identified through the public participation process, not otherwise addressed in the Planning Office report, into its findings of fact in support of its decision to amend the Growth Policy. ¶ 25 These public participation statutes outline the necessary procedures for adopting and revising growth policies. Section 76-1-604(3)(a), MCA, allows for governing bodies to revise a growth policy by following the same procedures for adoption of a growth policy. The procedures require that a planning board hold a public hearing on a proposed growth policy before the submission of a growth policy to the governing body. Section 76-1-602, MCA. ¶ 26 A planning board then considers the suggestions elicited at the public hearing and either recommends acceptance or rejection of the growth policy to the governing body. Section 76-1-603, MCA. The Planning Board held a public meeting on September 10, 2003, and heard 28 people speak in favor of the Wolford Amendment and 18 speak in opposition to the amendment. The Planning Board drafted a letter recommending approval to the Board, wherein it stated that it discussed the proposal and considered the public testimony. The Planning Board further stated that it had adopted the Planning Office's report as findings of fact. The Planning Office prepared the report, however, before the Planning Board received any public comments on the Wolford Amendment. ¶ 27 The statutory scheme then requires the governing body to adopt a resolution of intention to adopt, adopt with revisions, or reject the proposed growth policy. Section 76-1-604(1), MCA. The Board adopted a resolution of intent to adopt the Wolford Amendment and then received over 4,400 comments from the public. The Board adopted a resolution to approve the amendment following the public comment period, wherein it stated that the Board had considered the information presented to it since the adoption of [the] resolution of intent. Contrary to the Board's resolution to approve the Zoning Amendment, discussed below, this resolution did not expressly mention the public comments. Nothing in the record indicates what issues, aside from a request from the public to put the Wolford Amendment to a public vote, were raised by the public participation process. Commissioner Hall testified that he personally reviewed the comments, but that he could not speak for his fellow Commissioners. Nothing in the record indicates that the other members of the Board considered the public comments. ¶ 28 Neighbors analogize the Board's role in this process to that of an agency decision-maker in the administrative process under the Montana Administrative Procedures Act (MAPA). Neighbors cite to Stewart v. Region II Child and Fam. Serv. (1990), 242 Mont. 88, 93, 788 P.2d 913, 916, for the proposition that the rules of agency review rely on the principle that the agency, and not the district court, is the finder of fact. According to Neighbors, a court should remand a case for appropriate findings [i]f a factual question is essential to an agency's decision, and the agency's findings of fact are so insufficient that they cannot be clarified or are entirely absent . . . . Stewart, 242 Mont. at 93, 788 P.2d at 916. Section 2-4-102(b) of MAPA admittedly excludes units of local government, such as the Board, from the requirements of MAPA, nevertheless Neighbors's analogy proves apt to a degree. ¶ 29 Neighbors argue that the Board effectively preempted judicial review through a process by which it left no tracks. Neighbors contend that a reviewing court is left with the problem of evaluating the reasonableness of the Board's decision that boils down to the Board's claim that it is okay because we said it is okay. We have faced this obstacle in the context of zoning changes approved by elected city councils. First in Lowe v. City of Missoula (1974), 165 Mont. 38, 525 P.2d 551, we reversed a zoning amendment based upon the city council's failure to address the statutory requirements for zoning amendments through the development of a factual record that could be reviewed by a court for an abuse of discretion. Later in Schanz, 182 Mont. 328, 597 P.2d 67, we determined that the information relied upon by the city council in approving the zoning amendment was so lacking in fact and foundation as to render the city council's decision clearly unreasonable and an abuse of discretion. We remanded to the city council for consideration of the statutory criteria. Schanz, 182 Mont. at 336, 597 P.2d at 71. ¶ 30 Lowe and Schanz involve zoning amendments rather than amendments to master plans or growth policies similar to the one at issue here. These same principles still apply. As a general principle of administrative law, the record developed by an agency, here the Board, serves to flesh out the pertinent facts upon which a decision is based in order to facilitate judicial review. Annex Books, Inc. v. City of Indianapolis, 333 F.Supp.2d 773, 782 (S.D.Ind.2004). This requirement helps prevent judicial intrusion into matters committed to administrative discretion by the legislature. Annex Books, 333 F.Supp.2d at 782. The absence in the record of facts relied upon by the Board in making its decision to approve the amendment to the Growth Policy would place the Court in the untenable position of having to substitute its own judgment for the Board's judgment. See Burgess v. Gallatin County Com'n (1985), 215 Mont. 503, 507, 698 P.2d 862, 865. ¶ 31 The Board generally complied here with any such fact-finding requirements. The Planning Office reviewed Wolford's application and analyzed the Wolford Amendment. The Planning Office's report identified the relevant policies implicated by the Wolford Amendment and described its findings. For example, the Growth Policy lists Transportation as one of its major goal and policy elements. The report noted that the Wolford Amendment's proposal to extend Rose Crossing from Whitefish Stage Road to Highway 93 at Wolford's expense provides a positive transportation improvement for the County and helps remediate the Growth Policy's concern regarding a lack of suitable eastwest traffic movement. ¶ 32 Further, one of the policies states that [a]dditional commercial development in the Planning Jurisdiction along Highway. . . 93 . . . should be discouraged. The Planning Office seemingly justified deviation from this policy by concluding that it is far better to locate potential projects of the scale contemplated by this change within a jurisdiction that is planned, has development standards, and is virtually adjacent to the largest existing city in Flathead County and adjacent to similar uses such as the Mountain View Plaza and the Spring Prairie Center. The Planning Office's report concluded that the proposed amendment is consistent with the intent of the existing Growth Policy Plan policies and goals. ¶ 33 The Planning Board then adopted the Planning Office's report as findings of fact and passed a resolution recommending that the Board adopt the Wolford Amendment. The Board did not explicitly adopt the report as findings of fact. The Planning Office's report did identify the policies relevant to the Wolford Amendment. The report further analyzed the compliance, or lack of compliance, of the Wolford Amendment with the relevant policies. As discussed above, however, the Planning Office prepared the report before the Board opened the proposal to public comment. The Board received more than 4,400 comments from the public regarding the Wolford Amendment. The Board closed the public comment period on October 31, 2003, and amended the Growth Policy just five days later on November 5, 2003. ¶ 34 Nothing can be found in the record that discloses what issues, aside from calls from the public to put the Wolford Amendment to a public vote, were raised through the public participation process. As the Dissent notes, the Board expressed appreciation for the public comments and thanked its clerk for preparing a tally of the comments. Dissent, ¶ 76. Commissioner Howard Gipe referenced a newspaper article that reported various organizations and individuals supported the change, and estimated that the breakdown for and against the Wolford Amendment was about 50-50. The Board then denied the public's request to vote on the Wolford Amendment. The Board adopted the amendment immediately thereafter. Aside from these comments and the Board's vague reference to having considered the information presented to it since the adoption of [the] resolution of intent nothing in the record demonstrates that the Board, the Planning Board, or the Planning Office ever considered any issues, other than denying the public the opportunity to vote on the Wolford Amendment, raised through the more than 4,400 written public comments. ¶ 35 The Board failed to address the public comments in its decision-making and thereby failed to flesh out the pertinent facts upon which [its] decision [was] based in order to facilitate judicial review. Annex Books, 333 F.Supp.2d at 782. Accordingly, we cannot know whether the public raised novel issues not addressed by the Planning Office's report and whether the Board appropriately responded to those issues. The public participation statutes contemplate more than merely eliciting public comment. Section 76-1-603, MCA. Further, the Board must equip reviewing courts with a record of the facts it relied upon in making its decision to avoid judicial intrusion into matters committed to the Board's discretion. Annex Books, 333 F.Supp.2d at 782. ¶ 36 We conclude that the Board's reliance upon the Planning Office's report was justified and appropriate to an extent. The Board's sole reliance on the report, prepared before over 4,400 members of the public voiced their concerns, however, renders its decision to amend the Growth Policy unreasonable and an abuse of discretion. See Schanz, 182 Mont. at 336, 597 P.2d at 70. The Board has an obligation to consider the public comments and incorporate those comments into its decision-making process. ¶ 37 The District Court granted summary judgment based on the fact that the Board did not abuse its discretion in amending the Growth Policy. The District Court failed to account, however, for the issue of whether the Board considered matters raised through the 4,400 public comments. Absent any indication in the record that the Board considered these public comments, the Board cannot demonstrate that it satisfied its duty to flesh out the pertinent facts upon which it relied in approving the Wolford Amendment. ¶ 38 The District Court must evaluate whether the Board satisfied this obligation by requiring the Board to demonstrate what issues, if any, were raised through the public comment process that were not addressed by the Planning Office's report. The Board must further demonstrate to the District Court that it evaluated such issues with the requirements of the Growth Policy. As the parties initially filed cross-motions for summary judgment, the District Court on remand likewise must allow Neighbors to present evidence to refute the Board's assertions. We reverse and remand to the District Court for this limited purpose. Schanz, 182 Mont. at 336, 597 P.2d at 71. If the District Court determines that the Board failed to satisfy its obligation, or if the record proves insufficient to determine whether the Board complied, it should send the case to the Board for development of the factual record that it relied upon in making its decision to amend the Growth Policy.