Court Opinion

ID: 9874966
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 22:21:04.217138+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:46:54.895749
License: Public Domain

Gurich, V.C.J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
¶ 1 The majority, instead of finally putting this case to rest, remands the case to the District Court to allow the Osage Nation one last futile attempt at invalidating the Osage County Wind Energy Ordinance passed in 2011. The Osage County District Court’s dismissal of ah of the Nation’s claims should be upheld because the Ordinance is not subject to invalidation at this point. For almost six years now, Osage Wind has relied on the validity of a permit issued in August of 2011 pursuant to the Ordinance, “expending], or irrevocably committ[ing] to expend, in excess of $220,000,000 in development costs, interconnection payments, construction payments, and turbine deposits”1 to construct a wind energy facility. Osage Wind has a vested property interest sufficient to protect it from any decision invalidating the underlying Ordinance.2 I would affirm the District Court in all respects.
¶ 2 On April 4, 2011, the Osage County Board of Commissioners adopted the Ordinance, allowing the construction and operation of wind energy facilities in Osage County.3 On July 7, 2011, Osage Wind submitted an “Application for Conditional Use or Variance” to the Osage County Board of Adjustment, seeking a conditional use permit for the construction and installation of a wind energy facility in Osage County. The Board held a hearing on Osage Wind’s application for the permit on August 11, 2011. Certain representatives of the Nation appeared at the hearing and testified against the approval of the permit. The Board granted Osage Wind’s Application for Conditional Use or Variance, and no appeal of the Board’s decision was made by any party, including the Nation.4
¶ 3 On October 18, 2011, shortly after the Board approved Osage Wind’s permit, the Nation sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma to enjoin construction of the Osage Wind project. After holding a non-jury trial, the federal court, on December 20, 2011, denied the Nation’s request for a permanent injunction barring Osage Wind from constructing the wind farm in Osage County. The federal court closed the case on February 29, 2012,5
¶4 Two years later, on March 7, 2014, Mustang Run Wind Project, an affiliate of Osage Wind,6 filed an application with the Board for a conditional use permit to construct and operate another wind energy facility in Osage County. On April 25, 2014, the Nation submitted to the Board a document entitled “Petition to the Board of Adjustment to Rescind the Wind Capital Energy Project Variance and Prohibit Construction at the Project Site Until the Board Properly Authorizes the Project.” In a letter sent with the “Petition,” the Nation requested that such be added to the May 8, 2014 agenda and that the Nation be provided the opportunity to address the Board at the meeting.7
*1249¶ 5 The Board held hearings on both April 10, 2014, and May 8, 2014, wherein Osage Wind’s previously issued conditional use permit and Mustang Run’s application for. a conditional use permit were discussed at length. On May 8, 2014, the Board denied Mustang Run’s application for a conditional use permit but denied the Nation’s petition to rescind Osage Wind’s conditional use permit. Mustang Run appealed the denial to the District Court of Osage County on May 15, 2014. On May 28, 2014, the Nation initiated an action in the District Court of Osage County, purporting to appeal the Board’s decision refusing to rescind Osage Wind’s permit. On June 25, 2014, the Nation moved to intervene in the Mustang Run appeal in the District Court, and on that same day, the Nation filed a Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Petition for Permanent Injunction, seeking, among other relief, to permanently enjoin and restrain the Board and Osage Wind from “permitting, authorizing, constructing and using the property” for a wind energy facility. The Nation was allowed to intervene in the Mustang Run case, and all three cases were heard by the District Court on August 28, 2014, and again on October 23, 2014.
¶ 6 Despite full participation by the Nation, the District Court vacated the decision of the Board and ordered the Board to issue a conditional use permit to Mustang Run, and denied the Nation’s belated attempt to reseñad Osage Wind’s permit, finding unreasonable delay in attempting to halt the project. The Nation and the Board appealed the Mustang Run decision, and the Nation appealed the Osage Wind decision. All three cases were retained by this Court on December 5, 2014, and made companion cases by order of this Court on December 10, 2014. On November 1, 2016, this Court issued an opinion in Mustang Run Wind Project, LLC v. Osage County Board of Adjustment, 2016 OK 113, 387 P.3d 333, affirming the District Court’s decision to grant a conditional use peimit to Mustang Run,
¶ 7 We plainly held in Mustang Run, the companion case, that the “Osage County Board of Adjustment possesses authority to grant conditional use permits.”8 In fact, in that .case we affirmed the issuance of the permit specifically for a wind energy facility even though the facility was located, at least in part, on “land zoned for agricultural use” and was, at the time of the application, “being used for agriculture and ranching.”9 The Nation was allowed to intervene in Mustang Run and made the same argument in that case as they do here — that the zoning ordinances in Osage County do not permit any wind energy facility in an area zoned agricultural, and as such, the Board was not authorized to issue the permits.10 All issues regarding the validity of the Ordinance- were decided in Mustang Run. .
¶ 8 The majority reverses and l-emands 'the Nation’s “sole cause of action” against the Board challenging the validity of the Ordinance “due to irregularity in its creation ,... ” Maj. Op., ¶ 70, The opinion states: “Plaintiffs’ petition also seeks a declaratory judgment that the zoning ordinances in Osage County do not permit any wind energy facility in an area zoned as an agricultural district. This claim is based upon an allegation the Osage County Wind Energy Ordinance was adopted by the Pawhuska-Osage County Area Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners of Osage *1250County after a notice to the public which failed to expressly state the Wind Energy Ordinance was an amendment to specific zoning ordinances.”11 The Osage County Board of Commissioners passed the Ordinance in 2011, and the Nation waited more than three years to attempt to invalidate such ordinance. Osage Wind lawfully and in good faith obtained the permit from the Board and began construction on the wind farm.
¶ 9 The majority assumes throughout that the Nation has standing to proceed,12 yet reverses that portion of the District Court’s judgment adjudicating the standing of the Nation to challenge the validity of the Ordinance “due to application of an incorrect standard.”13 First, the Nation fully participated in the initial Board hearing on Osage Wind’s application for the permit in 2011, and no appeal of the Board’s decision was taken to the District Court. Instead, the Nation filed a separate federal lawsuit in 2011 seeking injunctive relief. I agree the federal court’s denial of the Nation’s request for injunctive relief in Case No. 11-CV-643-GFK-PJC does not control whether the Nation now has standing to proceed in state court. But the District Court specifically found that regardless of the federal court litigation, the allegations raised by the Nation in the Petition for Declai’atory Judgment, “in any event,” were “insufficient as a matter of law to confer standing upon the [the Nation] because theyfcdl[ed] to demonstrate an injury in fact to a legally protectable interest of [the Nation].”14
¶ 10 In Knight ex rel. Ellis v. Miller, 2008 OK 81, ¶ 8, 195 P.3d 372, 375, this Court set forth the requirements for standing under the Oklahoma Declaratory Judgment Act:
The requisite precedent facts or conditions which the courts generally hold must exist in order that declaratory relief may be obtained may be summarized as follows: (1) there must exist a justiciable controversy; that is to say, a controversy in which a claim of right is asserted against one who has an interest in contesting it; (2) the controversy must be between persons whose interests are adverse; (3) the party seeking declaratory relief must have a legal interest in the controversy, that is to say, a legally protect[a]ble interest; and (4) the issue involved in the controversy must be ripe for judicial determination, (emphasis added).
The District Court applied the correct standard in concluding the Nation lacked standing to challenge the Osage County Board of Commissioners’ adoption of the Ordinance.15 Nevertheless, even if the District Court applied the incorrect standard or erroneously concluded the Nation lacked standing, this Court should assume the Nation had standing to proceed and decide the case.16 The Nation has fully participated in the litigation and has briefed all issues. We should resolve all issues and affirm the District Court’s dismissal on different grounds because the Ordinance is not subject to invalidation at this point.17 Any decision invalidating the Ordinance on remand cannot retroactively apply to Osage Wind or Mustang Run under *1251the facts of the case. I dissent to this portion of the opinion and would affirm the District Court’s dismissal of all claims.

. Although the Nation disputes this specific assertion by Osage Wind, the record indicates that construction has started on the project.

. See Bankoff v. Bd. of Adjustment of Wagoner Cnty., 1994 OK 58, ¶ 8, 875 P.2d 1138, 1141.

. Record on Appeal, Case No. 113,414, Ex. 3, at 2-3.

. See 19 O.S. 2011 866.24 ("An appeal to the district court from any decision, ruling, judgment, or order of said county board of adjustment may be taken by any person or persons, firm or corporation, jointly or severally, aggrieved thereby, or any department, board or official of government by filing with the clerk of said board within ten (10) days a notice of such appeal.”).

. The Nation appealed the decision of the federal district court to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, but the Tenth Circuit issued an Order on February 23, 2012, dismissing the appeal based on the stipulation of the parties to voluntarily dismiss the appeal. The federal district court case was closed shortly thereafter.

. Mustang Run Wind and Osage Wind "are basically the same entity”. Record on Appeal, Case No. 113,415, Ex. 6 at 23.

. Record on Appeal, Case No. 113,414, Ex. 3 at Ex. D.

. Mustang Run, 2016 OK 113, ¶0, 38, 387 P.3d 333.

. Id. 1.

. Record on Appeal, Case No. 113,414, Ex. 5 at 27 ('TTlhe Wind Energy Ordinance did not amend the Zoning Ordinance of Osage County and thus did not authorize the Board of Adjustment to grant conditional use permits for wind energy facilities.”).
The Nation's Trial-Brief in the Mustang Run Wind Project case states: "Under Osage County law, the Board may authorize the Project only if the Zoning Ordinance allows for the development of a wind energy facility in Osage County. But it does not. The Zoning Ordinance does not identify a wind energy facility as an "as or right” use in any zoning District in Osage County. Nor does the Zoning Ordinance identify a wind energy facility as a land use that may be 'permitted subject to the granting of a conditional use permit’ in any zoning District in Osage County.” Record on Appeal, Case No. 113,463, at 2096; 2102-2103 (emphasis added). The issue was raised again on appeal. See Counter Petition in Error, Case No. 113,463.

. Maj. Op., ¶ 57.

. See, e.g., Maj. Op., ¶29 ("Defendants also challenged the standing of the Osage Nation, and we assume it did possess standing for the purpose of this opinion and application of the laches defense.”).

. Maj. Op., ¶ 73.

. Record on Appeal, Case No, 113,415, Ex. 9 at 4 (emphasis added).

. The Nation specifically preserved the standing issue on appeal. See Petition in Error, Case No. 113,414, Ex. C ("Plaintiffs'/Appellant's Petition plead an actual controversy under the Oklahoma Declaratory Judgment Act, 12 O.S. 2011, 1651-1657.”).

. This Court has often assumed, without deciding, that a party has standing so as to reach the merits of a controversy. See, e.g., Keating v. Johnson, 1996 OK 61, 918 P.2d 51 (assuming without deciding that the Governor and two legislators had standing to bring the original proceeding).

. "If the trial court reaches the correct result but for the wrong reason, its judgment is not subject to reversal. Rather, the Court is not bound by the trial court's reasoning and may affirm the judgment below on a different legal rationale.” Hall v. GEO Group, Inc., 2014 OK 22, ¶ 17, 324 P.3d 399, 406.