Opinion ID: 884277
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: LVP as an Amendment to, or Partial Repeal of, the Master Plan

Text: Ash Grove argues that Jefferson County cannot amend, revise or repeal the Master Plan via adoption of the LVP for the small area described therein. Jefferson County contends, on the other hand, that § 76-1-604(3), MCA, authorizes it to revise or repeal the Master Plan or any parts thereof and that it properly did so via adoption of the LVP. In that regard, Jefferson County directs our attention to Resolution No. 51-95, by which it adopted the LVP, and which states that to the extent that the Jefferson County Master Plan contains any provisions inconsistent with the Vicinity Plan, the Jefferson County Master Plan should be deemed amended, repealed and/or superseded by the provisions of the Vicinity Plan. It is true that § 76-1-604, MCA, authorizes governing bodies to revise or repeal a master plan. Jefferson County's purported amendment to, and partial repeal of, the Master Plan via adoption of the LVP, however, is problematic in three regards. As discussed above, § 76-1-601, MCA, provides that a master plan may include a survey of existing land uses; where such a survey is included, it must be based on careful and comprehensive studies of the existing conditions in the area. Jefferson County included such a factually-based land use inventory in the Master Plan which necessarily recognized the use of Ash Grove's property for mining and industrial purposes. The purported amendment of the Master Plan via adoption of the LVP, which effectively reclassifies Ash Grove's property from mining and industrial to rural residential, no longer meets the requirement that existing land uses be reflected in a master plan. The LVP's classification of the land within it, which includes Ash Grove's cement plant and quarries, as rural residential clearly is not based on the existing condition and use of the land as contemplated by § 76-1-601, MCA. Because the LVP disregards the actual use of the land to which it purports to apply, it is not a proper amendment to the Master Plan. Moreover, as discussed above, a master plan is a plan for the entire jurisdictional area. See § 76-1-601, MCA. While § 76-1-604, MCA, authorizes revision of a masterplan, nothing in that statute supports the notion that revisions can be made which alter the master plan's inherent jurisdiction-wide nature and result in a patchwork plan for the jurisdictional area. Indeed, [i]f the plan can be amended piecemeal, ... the role of the plan as a comprehensive statement of community planning policies may be diluted and the planning process may be abused. Daniel R. Mandelker, The Role of the Local Comprehensive Plan in Land Use Regulation, 74 Mich. L.Rev. 899, 946 (1976). Jefferson County's effort to adopt the LVP, as an amendment to the Master Plan for only a small portion of the jurisdictional area covered by the Plan, simply undermines the importance of comprehensive planning recognized in Montana statutes and our decisions. Finally, and as previously noted, § 76-1-604, MCA, permits a governing body to repeal a master plan. Jefferson County contends that, in adopting the LVP via Resolution No. 51-95, it repealed portions of the Master Plan inconsistent with the LVP as authorized by the statute. The problems associated with such a generic and imprecise partial repeal are obvious and further demonstrate the dangers inherent in failing to accord a comprehensive master plan its proper role. If Jefferson County's attempt to partially repeal the Master Plan by adoption of the LVP for only a small portion of the jurisdictional area is allowed to stand, how does one discern what is left of the Plan? What of the Master Plan's requirement, which reflects the spirit and intent of § 76-1-605, MCA, and Bridger, that local vicinity plans be consistent withand developed to implementthe Mater Plan? Does adoption of a local vicinity plan inconsistent with the Master Planlike the LVP at issue hererepeal the requirement that local vicinity plans be consistent with the Master Plan, with the result that other vicinities also are free to disregard the Master Plan? Or does the requirement for consistent local vicinity plans remain applicable to other vicinities in Jefferson County which have not yet developed local vicinity plans? If implementation steps and planning which are necessarily subordinate to the goals and objectives of the Master Plan can be inconsistent with the Master Plan and used to partially repeal it, what becomes of the Master Plan as the preeminent planning device? Section 76-1-604, MCA, simply does not contemplate the use of a document required by the Master Plan and by Montana law to be a subordinate implementing device to override the Master Plan itself in the guise of a partial repeal. We conclude that Jefferson County's adoption of the LVP is neither a proper amendment to, nor a proper partial repeal of, the Master Plan. Having concluded above that the LVP also was improperly adopted on a stand-alone basis, we hold that the District Court erred in concluding that Jefferson County was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the basis that it properly adopted the LVP pursuant to § 76-1-604, MCA, and in granting its motion for summary judgment on that basis. In the usual summary judgment case in which we reverse a district court's grant of summary judgment, that resolution is based on our conclusion that genuine issues of material fact exist which preclude the moving party's entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. Under such a circumstance, a reversal necessitates a remand for trial in which the factual issues will be determined by the trier of fact. Where all of the facts bearing on the resolution of the legal issues are before us, however, this Court may reverse a district court's grant of summary judgment and direct it to enter summary judgment in favor of the other party. See Matter of Estate of Langendorf (1993), 262 Mont. 123, 128, 863 P.2d 434, 438; Duensing v. Traveler's Companies (1993), 257 Mont. 376, 386, 849 P.2d 203, 210. As stated above, the dispositive facts regarding Jefferson County's adoption of the LVP are undisputed. We concluded that Jefferson County improperly adopted the LVP either on a stand-alone basis or as an amendment to, or partial repeal of, the Master Plan. Based on those conclusions, we hold that Ash Grove is entitled to summary judgment on the invalidity of the LVP. Reversed and remanded to the District Court for entry of summary judgment in favor of Ash Grove. TURNAGE, C.J., and NELSON and LEAPHART, JJ., concur.