Court Opinion

ID: 9627115
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:34:59.041+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:39.858182
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
dissenting:
I agree with the majority that parties should be required to exhaust their administrative remedies before seeking judicial *566review of zoning and building permit issues. However, I am not convinced that such a requirement even applies in this case, and even if it does, I cannot agree with the majority that the Palmers failed to fulfill that requirement.
First, Idaho Code §§ 67-6519 and 67-6521 both provide that a person “aggrieved by a decision may within sixty (60) days after all remedies have been exhausted under local ordinances seek judicial review under the procedures provided by sections 67-5215(b) through (g) and 67-5216, Idaho Code.” Pursuant to these provisions, anyone disputing the grant or denial of a permit must jump through all the hoops of the local ordinances before hailing the county into court. But the Palmers were not disputing the grant or denial of a permit. They were not seeking review of a permitting decision at all.1 Rather, the Palmers were asserting damages alleged to have been caused by their reliance on the grant of a permit. Damage allegations are properly asserted in a tort action, which is precisely what the Palmers filed and the district court improperly dismissed.
Second, even assuming arguendo that I.C. § 67-6519 and 67-6521 do apply to the Palmers’ situation, neither the district court nor the majority of this Court has provided a satisfactory explanation of what administrative remedy the Palmers failed to pursue. The majority opinion states that the Palmers’ suit must be dismissed because they failed to apply for a special permit. There is no requirement in either of these statutory sections that a person whose application for a permit is denied must apply for a different type of permit before the prior denial can be appealed. The statutes require only that “all remedies [be] exhausted under local ordinances____” (Emphasis added.) Nowhere in the record is there a copy of the applicable local ordinances of Blaine County. Nowhere in either the district court’s decision or the majority’s opinion is there any reference to the remedies under those local ordinances which the Palmers failed to avail themselves of prior to instituting this action. It must therefore be concluded that they did in fact exhaust their remedies. The Palmers’ action should be reinstated.

. The majority and the district court both concede that the Palmers were not seeking the review contemplated by Idaho Code §§ 67-6519 and 67-6521: "The court also held that a record of the findings and conclusions of the commissioners was not required because the complaint did not indicate that the Palmers sought judicial review of a decision of the commissioners.” 117 Idaho at 564, 790 P.2d at 345.