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

Heading: Zoning Regulations

Text: ¶ 39 Neighbors next contend that the zoning statutes and the Zoning Regulations require the Board to issue findings of fact in support of its decision to amend the zoning ordinance. Neighbors assert that the Board's failure to issue findings of fact entitles them to summary judgment voiding and setting aside the Board's zoning decision. ¶ 40 Section 76-2-205, MCA, provides the process for amending a zoning ordinance. A board of county commissioners must publish a notice of a public hearing on the proposed zoning regulation amendment and provide the public an opportunity to be heard at the hearing. Section 76-2-205(1) and (2), MCA. A board then must review the recommendation from the planning board and make any revisions or amendments it deems proper based on the public comments received. Section 76-2-205(3), MCA. A board of county commissioners may then pass a resolution of intent to adopt the amendment. Section 76-2-205(4). If a board passes a resolution of intent to adopt an amendment to the zoning regulations it must publish notice of the resolution, and provide for a 30-day protest period. Section 76-2-205(5), MCA. A board must pass a final resolution adopting the amendment unless 40 percent of the landowners within the zoning district protest the amendment within the 30-day protest period. Section 76-2-205(6), MCA. ¶ 41 Neighbors further assert that Flathead County's own Zoning Regulations require the Board to issue independent findings of fact. Section 2.08.040 of the Zoning Regulations state that when considering an application for amendment to the provisions of these regulations or the Zoning Districts, the Planning Board and the Board . . . shall be guided by and adopt findings of fact based upon [the following 12 criteria]. The 12 criteria in § 2.08.040 of the Zoning Regulations mirror the criteria for considering a zoning amendment from § 76-2-203, MCA. ¶ 42 The Board must make zoning amendments in accordance with the 12 statutory and Zoning Regulation criteria. Section 76-2-203, MCA. Wolford's application to amend the zoning regulations addressed all 12 of these criteria at length. The Planning Office also addressed the 12 statutory criteria and issued a report outlining the Zoning Amendment in the context of the criteria. The Planning Board discussed the amendment, voted to recommend approval, and adopted the Planning Office's report as findings of fact. ¶ 43 The Board then held a public hearing on the proposed Zoning Amendment. The Board passed a resolution of intent to adopt the Zoning Amendment following the public hearing. The Board adopted a final resolution approving the Zoning Amendment at the conclusion of the required protest period, wherein it stated that it based its decision upon the recommendation of the Planning Board and public testimony. The resolution further stated that the Board made its decision in accordance with § 76-2-205, MCA. The Board did not expressly adopt the Planning Office's report as findings of fact. The Board did state, however, that it adopted the Zoning Amendment based upon the Planning Board's recommendation, and the Planning Board adopted the report as findings of fact. Further, the plain language of § 2.08.040 requires only that the Planning Board and the Board be guided by and adopt findings of fact . . . . Nothing requires that the Board separately issue its own independent factual findings. ¶ 44 The applicable standard of review is whether the information upon which the Board based its decision is so lacking in fact and foundation that it is clearly unreasonable and constitutes an abuse of discretion. Schanz, 182 Mont. at 335-36, 597 P.2d at 71. The Board reviewed the Planning Board's recommendation. The Planning Board discussed the Zoning Amendment, voted unanimously to recommend approval, and adopted the Planning Office's report as findings of fact. The Board considered public comment, including a statement by Sharon DeMeester, President of Neighbors, wherein she reviewed the 12 statutory criteria, and made its decision based upon these considerations. The Board thus followed the proper statutory and regulatory procedure for adopting zoning amendments and had sufficient evidence before it to make an informed decision. ¶ 45 Neighbors finally argue that this Court's decisions in Lowe and Schanz mandate reversal of the Board's decision because of the Board's failure to consider the 12 statutory criteria. Lowe and Schanz require governing bodies to consider the 12 statutory criteria from what is now § 76-2-203, MCA, before making changes to zoning regulations. Lowe, 165 Mont. at 40, 525 P.2d at 552; Schanz, 182 Mont. at 336, 597 P.2d at 71. The Planning Office's report outlines each of the 12 statutory criteria in detail as they relate to the Wolford's Amendment. The Planning Board adopted the report as findings of fact and recommended approval to the Board. The Board considered the Planning Board's recommendation. The Board also heard public comment on the 12 statutory criteria, and, unlike the amendment to the Growth Policy, expressly considered those public comments before approving the Zoning Amendment. The Board therefore followed the requirement articulated in Lowe and Schanz before making changes to the Zoning Regulations. We agree with the District Court that the Board did all that the law required. ¶ 46 2. Whether the Growth Policy documents suffer from fatal internal inconsistencies. ¶ 47 Neighbors argue that the Growth Policy suffers from a fatal flaw because it contains internal inconsistencies. Neighbors allege that the Board failed to reconcile vast discrepancies when it combined the City-County Plan of 1986 with the County Plan of 1987 to create the new Growth Policy in August of 2003. Specifically, Neighbors point to three such inconsistencies. ¶ 48 Neighbors first argue that the Board premised its approval of the Stillwater Plan upon annexation of the area into the city of Kalispell and the area obtaining city services. Neither contingency has been realized. The City-County Plan likewise contains objectives of adopting a municipal annexation program. The County Master Plan, on the other hand, has no stated requirement that developments be annexed into the City. Second, Neighbors allege that the City-County Plan stresses joint administration between the City and County while the County Plan lacks any goals of joint administration. Finally, Neighbors point to the fact that the City-County Plan contains a table projecting future land use needs for the plan area in a number of categories, but the County Plan contains no such projection. ¶ 49 Neighbors rely on BCPOA v. Planning & Zoning Com'n (1995), 270 Mont. 160, 175, 890 P.2d 1268, 1277, for the proposition that in order to effectively plan for the development of a planning and zoning district, the planning documents which comprise the development pattern must be internally consistent as well as consistent with companion planning documents. A clear conflict existed in BCPOA. The general plan and the zoning map specifically excluded single family housing in the base area. The zoning ordinance and base area plan, by contrast, contained a provision for high density subdivision in the same area. BCPOA, 270 Mont. at 167, 890 P.2d at 1272. The inconsistencies within the planning documents made it impossible to determine the appropriate population densities for the area. BCPOA, 270 Mont. at 173, 890 P.2d at 1276. ¶ 50 The alleged inconsistencies within the Growth Policy do not rise to the level of the inconsistencies in BCPOA. The annexation objective in the City-County Plan on which Neighbors rely provides for the adoption of a municipal annexation program which coordinates with the Extension of Services Plan to aggressively deal with fringe developments setting the stage for immediate or future annexation so as to preserve the tax base of the city and eliminate future barriers to orderly growth. Neighbors assert that the Board premised its approval of the Stillwater Plan upon annexation into the City, but that the County Plan contains no objectives for annexation. Wolford counters that the Board considered annexation to be a future possibility, not an immediate requirement. ¶ 51 The Board amended both the City-County Plan and the County Plan by revising the Stillwater Plan in 1992. The 1992 Stillwater Plan Amendment contains an objective to provide for public sewer services. As part of the strategy to provide for public sewer services, the 1992 Stillwater Plan Amendment calls for development of an onsite engineered sewer system for the first 200 users. Only when use exceeds 200 users does the 1992 Stillwater Plan Amendment state that connection to the city of Kalispell sewage collection would occur and that the developer would seek annexation. We therefore agree with Wolford that the Board considered annexation to be a future possibility rather than an immediate requirement in approving the Stillwater Amendment. The Wolford Amendment to the Stillwater Plan also contains no requirement of annexation or hook up to city sewer services. Neighbors cannot establish that the alleged inconsistencies regarding annexation rise to the level of contradiction apparent in BCPOA, and thereby impede the planning process. ¶ 52 Neighbors next argue that the City-County Plan requires joint administration while the County Plan contains no such requirement. The City-County Plan contains a goal for administration wherein the city and county jointly cooperate in promoting, guiding, and directing the planning jurisdiction's growth and development. The City-County Plan defines goals as very long range statements about the future of a community, they give direction. They are, in essence, what the people of the Kalispell Planning Jurisdiction are striving for in terms of neighborhood and community environment, growth, community services, etc. The County Plan contains a similar goal for joint cooperation, wherein [i]ntergovernmental cooperation between the three cities of Whitefish, Kalispell, and Columbia Falls and Flathead County should be encouraged. . . . The Court must pause to scratch its collective heads and ponder whether the City-County Plan's goal for joint administration conflicts with the County Plan's goal of encouraging intergovernmental cooperation. We are hard pressed to conclude that the City-County Plan and County Plan conflict on the topic of joint administration to such a degree as to impede the planning process. ¶ 53 Neighbors finally argue that the City-County Plan contains a table projecting future land use needs, while the County Plan does not. Once again, the City-County Plan's projections represent projections of future needs rather than binding criteria. Neighbors do not explain how this alleged inconsistency impedes the planning process. Both the City-County Plan and County Plan discuss similar goals in the areas of residential, commercial, and industrial development. We fail to see how the County Plan's omission of a future land needs projection impedes the planning process in light of the County Plan's discussion of goals in these same areas of residential, commercial, and industrial development. These goals largely mirror in relevant part the future land needs projections. ¶ 54 We recognize the City-County Plan and the County Plan are not identical. They do not suffer from internal inconsistencies, however, to such a degree that render them inherently unreliable. BCPOA, 270 Mont. at 173, 890 P.2d at 1276. The lack of significant inconsistencies arises from the intentionally vague and sometimes open-ended language employed in the two documents. The local elected officials in Flathead County have chosen to adopt planning documents that contain these ambiguities. BCPOA requires that the two plans be sufficiently consistent to allow public officials to follow them. BCPOA, 270 Mont. at 174, 890 P.2d at 1276. The Growth Policy, comprising the City-County Plan and the County Plan and all amendments thereto, despite the presence of much vague and open-ended language, provides sufficient consistency for the Board to follow. The Board therefore did not exceed its authority or jurisdiction in amending the Growth Policy. ¶ 55 3. Whether the Wolford Amendment is consistent with the Flathead Growth Policy. ¶ 56 Neighbors next argue that the Wolford Amendment to the Growth Policy does not substantially comply with the Growth Policy, and therefore must be annulled and set aside. Section 76-1-601(4)(a), MCA, provides that growth policies may contain neighborhood plans. If a growth policy contains a neighborhood plan, such as the Stillwater Neighborhood Plan, such a plan must be consistent with the growth policy. Section 76-1-601(4)(a), MCA. We therefore note that the proper standard is not whether the Wolford Amendment substantially complies with the Growth Policy, as the parties have framed the issue, but whether the Wolford Amendment proves consistent with the Growth Policy. ¶ 57 Neighbors contend that the City-County Plan slated the area of the proposed Mall for annexation to the City. Neighbors further contend that the Board has gone to great lengths to ensure that this massive development . . . is not annexed into the City and does not get connected to city water and sewer services without providing any supporting authority for such a statement. As we already have determined that the Board did not premise its approval of the Stillwater Plan upon annexation into the city, and that the Wolford Amendment neither required nor precluded annexation into the city, we focus on the two other inconsistencies alleged by Neighbors. ¶ 58 Neighbors argue that the Wolford Amendment conflicts with the Growth Policy's goals pertaining to commercial development in the Kalispell area. Neighbors rely, in part, on a Planning Office report from 2001 for a previous application submitted by Wolford to locate the mall in the Evergreen area. Neighbors further rely on the 1987 County Plan's statement that additional development in the planning jurisdiction along Highway . . . 93 should be discouraged. Neighbors finally argue that the development of agricultural land at the proposed Mall site conflicts with the Growth Policy. ¶ 59 The 2001 Planning Office report noted that the development will cannibalize downtown Kalispell commercial operations, force vacancies in the existing business and redirect growth into the unincorporated portions of Flathead County. The Planning Office prepared this report in 2001 for location in a different part of Flathead County. More importantly, factors on the ground have changed significantly since 2001. The area has seen significant population growth. The proposed Mall now comports with the prevailing uses in the area. Thirty-six businesses surround the proposed Mall in all directions, including large box retailers such as Target, Home Depot, TJ Maxx, Lowes, Ross, Borders Books, and Costco. The proposed Mall admittedly may not serve to preserve downtown Kalispell retail operations, a fear expressed by the 2001 report. It will at least be located, however, among other cannibalizing sprawl developments that the Board previously had determined to be appropriate for the area. ¶ 60 We find similarly unpersuasive Neighbors's next contention that the Wolford Amendment conflicts with the Growth Policy because the County Plan discourages additional developments along Highway 93. The County Plan encourages development toward existing commercial areas either as expansion or infill. The Planning Office noted, however, that the County planned that area in 1992 (via the 1992 Amendment to the Stillwater Plan) for future growth because of significant population growth and development in the Kalispell area . . . . Flathead County thus amended the County Plan nearly fifteen years ago through enactment of the Stillwater Plan to create a new policy objectiveone that allows for commercial development in the location of the proposed Mall. The Planning Office report noted that the surrounding areas were slated for large retailers and box stores, projects that have since been completed. The proposed Mall will be sited in an existing commercial area. ¶ 61 Neighbors's final argument, that the development of agricultural land at the proposed site conflicts with the Growth Policy, fails to recognize that the Stillwater Plan, and the zoning in effect before the Wolford Amendment, also allowed for significant commercial and residential development at the proposed Mall location. The Wolford Amendment and Zoning Amendment designate 141 acres north of the proposed Mall for suburban agricultural zoning, an increase of 31 acres over the 2002 version of the Stillwater Plan. ¶ 62 We therefore conclude that the Wolford Amendment is consistent with the Growth Policy. We further conclude that the Board complied with this Court's directive in Little. Little dealt with zoning amendments that conflicted with the master plan. We noted that we were aware that changes in the master plan may well be dictated by changed circumstances occurring after the adoption of the plan. If this is so, the correct procedure is to amend the master plan rather than to erode the master plan by simply refusing to adhere to its guidelines. Little, 193 Mont. at 354, 631 P.2d at 1293. Here, the Board amended the Growth Policy directly, rather than attempting to erode it through zoning amendments. We remain mindful of the concerns regarding the pitfalls of piecemeal amendments to comprehensive planning documents expressed by Justice Leaphart and Justice Nelson in Ash Grove Cement, 283 Mont. at 500-01, 943 P.2d at 94-95 (Leaphart, J., and Nelson, J., specially concurring). Nevertheless, the Board followed the procedure we established in Little in amending the Growth Policy and we have not abandoned the Little standard. ¶ 63 4. Whether the Zoning Amendment constitutes illegal spot zoning. ¶ 64 Wolford moved for summary judgment on whether the Zoning Amendment constituted illegal spot zoning. Neighbors failed to present any evidence to the District Court to support its position. The District Court addressed the claim despite this omission. Neighbors now argue on appeal that the Board's decision to amend the Zoning Regulations constituted illegal spot zoning. ¶ 65 We consider three factors when determining whether a zoning amendment constitutes spot zoning. Little, 193 Mont. at 346, 631 P.2d at 1289. We first evaluate whether the requested use differs significantly from the prevailing use in the area. Little, 193 Mont. at 346, 631 P.2d at 1289. We next determine whether the area proposed for rezoning is small, although not solely in physical size. Little, 193 Mont. at 346, 631 P.2d at 1289. Finally, we evaluate whether the requested change resembles special legislation designed to benefit only one or a few landowners at the expense of the surrounding landowners or general public. Little, 193 Mont. at 346, 631 P.2d at 1289. ¶ 66 Wolford presented evidence to the District Court demonstrating that the proposed land uses in the Zoning Amendment were not significantly different from prevailing uses in the area. Neighbors did not refute Wolford's assertions regarding the prevailing uses surrounding the proposed Mall. Thirty-six businesses surround the proposed Mall in all directions. One hundred and ten acres of commercially zoned property lies to the east of the area encompassing the proposed Mall. This area includes the Spring Prairie Center and retail establishments such as Lowes and Costco. Sixty acres make up the Mountain View Plaza Development to the south of the proposed Mall. The Mountain View Plaza includes Home Depot, Target, Ross, TJ Maxx and Borders. The 40-acre Semi-Tool complex also lies to the south and within 250 feet of the proposed Mall. The Semi-Tool area is zoned County I-1 and allows for the same commercial uses that the Zoning Amendment allows, plus industrial uses. ¶ 67 The Zoning Amendment allows for zoning and uses consistent with the neighboring properties. The County zoned the Stillwater Plan area for residential, commercial, and agricultural uses. The Stillwater Plan allowed for 290 acres for High Density Residential and 50 acres for Resort Commercial. Extending a preexisting zone classification to include a larger area does not constitute spot zoning. State ex rel. Gutkoski v. Langhor (1972), 160 Mont. 351, 353, 502 P.2d 1144, 1146. Additionally, we may consider the current zoning when evaluating whether the requested use differs significantly from the prevailing use in the area. Greater Yellowstone Coal. v. Bd. Of Com'rs, 2001 MT 99, ¶ 23, 305 Mont. 232, ¶ 23, 25 P.3d 168, ¶ 23. Because the areas surrounding the Wolford Amendment are largely commercial, and because the existing zoning allowed for commercial development, we conclude that the Zoning Amendment does not allow for uses that differ significantly from the prevailing uses in the area. ¶ 68 We analyze the second and third elements of the Little test together. Boland v. City of Great Falls (1996), 275 Mont. 128, 134, 910 P.2d 890, 894. The number of separate landowners affected by the rezoning directly relates to whether the zoning constitutes special legislation designed to benefit only one person. Boland, 275 Mont. at 134, 910 P.2d at 894. Wolford is the sole owner of the parcel. Zone changes for property owned by one person, however, do not automatically equate to spot zoning. Greater Yellowstone Coal., ¶ 27. We also consider whether the zoning change occurred at the expense of surrounding landowners or the general public and whether the requested use accords with the comprehensive plan. Greater Yellowstone Coal., ¶ 21. ¶ 69 In Greater Yellowstone Coal. we evaluated whether the Gallatin County Commissioner's decision to amend the zoning regulations to allow for a large planned unit development project constituted spot zoning. Greater Yellowstone Coal., ¶¶ 20-37. We concluded that the zoning request was in the nature of special legislation designed to benefit one or a few landowners at the expense of the surrounding landowners or general public. Greater Yellowstone Coal., ¶ 32. We relied in part on the publicly owned nature of the surrounding land. The public owned 59 percent of the surrounding area, including some of the most significant wildlife habitat in the country. Greater Yellowstone Coal., ¶ 32. Similarly, in Little we concluded that the Flathead County Commissioner's decision to rezone land from medium-density residential to allow for a regional mall was done at the expense of the surrounding landowners. Little, 193 Mont. at 348, 631 P.2d at 1290. ¶ 70 Unlike Greater Yellowstone Coal. and Little, similar uses surround the location of the proposed Mall. As noted above, the surrounding properties are largely commercial, including large box retailers. We already have determined that the Zoning Amendment's requested use comports with the Growth Policy. We therefore conclude that despite Wolford's sole ownership of the parcel, the Board did not enact the Zoning Amendment at the expense of surrounding landowners or the general public. Greater Yellowstone Coal., ¶ 21.