Court Opinion

ID: 9515099
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:53:46.454387+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:24.867066
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(dissenting).
[¶ 18.] I dissent because the majority opinion’s interpretation of the statute allows the County to completely override the will of City and its residents with no judicial recourse. In situations like this, the invading entity should be required to bring the case before the circuit court in accord with our decision in Lincoln County v. Johnson, 257 N.W.2d 453 (S.D.1977).
[¶ 19.] A dispute of this magnitude between two government entities requires an objective resolution as a matter of public policy. The interests of each government should be balanced to determine whether the County is entitled to grant itself a permanent variance from the City’s comprehensive plan. Under the circuit court’s ruling, counties are free to disregard municipal planning commissions. The requirement that the County submit its proposal to the planning commission is reduced to a procedural hoop. This reading of the statute renders the review contemplated by SDCL 11-6-19 and 11-6-21 superfluous because regardless of the Commission’s recommendation, the County is entitled to proceed unilaterally. When interpreting statutes, we are charged with the duty to avoid absurd results. Helmbolt v. LeMars Mut. Ins. Co., Inc., 404 N.W.2d 55, 59 (S.D.1987) (citations omitted). An opinion that turns statutory requirements into an exercise in futility violates that duty and should not be permitted to stand. If that occurs here, the South Dakota Legislature should promptly overrule this case with remedial legislation.
[¶ 20.] The fact that this work-release facility will be placed within a block of one of the City’s high schools may be palatable because the building previously served as a juvenile detention center. That question should be determined on the merits by an objective fact finder, the circuit court. Taking the majority opinion’s interpretation of the statute to its logical end shows the alarming potential results. For example, this holding allows a county to purchase land on Main Street in any South Dakota town or city and place a sewage treatment plant on that parcel. The municipal government would have no means *126to prevent this happening because the County remains free to disregard the city’s zoning ordinances with no objective analysis of the respective interests of the City and the County. This reading of the statute renders planning commissions and city councils impotent in cases where the County owns or purchases land within the City.
[¶ 21.] Under the majority opinion’s reading, the requirement that the County submit its proposal to the City Commis•~sion is absurd because the County may proceed regardless of the Commission’s disapproval. It is doubtful that the Legislature intended these results, and our holding in Lincoln County prevents these results when, as here, there is an intergovernmental dispute over land use. I would reverse and remand for a proper balancing of the parties’ interests by the circuit court.