For the week of December 24 - 30, 2003

Blaine jurisdiction loss affirmed by high court

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"The county’s still disappointed about the result, but we intend to comply with it."

— TIM GRAVES, Blaine County deputy prosecuting attorney

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The Idaho Supreme Court handed Blaine County yet another defeat early this month when it declined to rehear arguments in a case that could have far-reaching effects for local zoning and land-use planning in Idaho.

The court denied Blaine County’s motion for another hearing without modifying its July 23 decision, which excepts the Idaho Land Board from local zoning on state-owned lands.

The decision opens the door for a new cellular telephone tower atop Della Mountain in Hailey and a gravel mining operation in Ohio Gulch in the mid-valley. On the basis of local zoning regulations, Blaine County had denied applications for both operations, but the court’s decision nullifies the county’s jurisdiction in the matters.

"The county’s still disappointed about the result, but we intend to comply with it," said Blaine County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tim Graves.

In a 4-1 ruling, on July 23, the Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling by 5th District Judge James May that gave counties regulatory authority over state trust lands. Specifically, the high court ruled that Blaine County could not ban or regulate a gravel mining operation on state-owned land in Ohio Gulch, about midway between Hailey and Ketchum.

It is unclear in the decision whether it applies to county zoning authority over other uses on state-owned property. The state employs its land for a wide range of uses, including grazing, communications facilities, logging and commercial uses.

But Graves said he has interpreted the decision as applying to all state uses.

"We were broad in taking the issue up and wanted the answer for all of Idaho’s counties," he said. "This is really as far as it goes."

What remains is an opportunity for Blaine County and the state to establish a new working relationship.

Graves and Idaho Department of Lands Director Winston Wiggins said they believe the chances for working together are good.

"We recognize that the county has legitimate interests," Wiggins said. "At the same time, the constitution of the state gives us some legitimacy in the management of state lands."

On July 23, Chief Justice Linda Copple Trout and Justices Wayne Kidwell and Daniel Eismann voted for the decision, which was written by Justice Jesse Walters. Justice Gerald Schroeder cast a dissenting opinion.

The majority of justices ruled that, although the state law does not specifically exempt the Department of Lands from complying with local zoning regulations, state lands are exempt by implication.

"We conclude that the provisions of (the law) operate to exempt the Land Board from compliance with the Local Land Use Planning Act, thus resolving the conflict between the Blaine County zoning ordinance and the Land Board’s constitutionally mandated authority and control over endowment lands," the four justices ruled.

In his dissenting opinion, Justice Schroeder interpreted the same laws cited by his colleagues.

"The statutory scheme for the management of the endowment lands does not expressly exempt those lands from the local zoning ordinances adopted pursuant to the Local Land Use Planning Act," he wrote.

Called school endowment lands, Idaho’s 2.5 million acres of property must be used under a state constitutional mandate to generate money, in part, for the benefit of Idaho’s schools.

The issue escalated into the courts after Hailey-based McStay Construction was served in 1999 by Blaine County with a Cease and Desist Order for a sand and gravel extraction operation on state land in the Ohio Gulch area. Blaine County asked the company’s owner, Gary McStay, to apply for a conditional use permit to operate in the area’s agricultural zone.

But the Blaine County Planning and Zoning Commission in 2000 denied McStay’s application, and the P&Z’s decision was later affirmed by the Blaine County Commission.

The state then filed a complaint for declaratory judgment in the district court, and on June 12, 2002, the 5th District Court in Hailey granted a summary judgment in favor of the county. The state then appealed the district court ruling to the high court.

Wiggins said the department would continue to consult with counties regarding the use of the state’s lands, but added that "it’s going to be in the context of our constitutional trust mandate."

"This, in a lot of respects, was a good thing to have this matter resolved," Wiggins said. "Now we can, all of us, move forward with a firmer footing as far as the relationship with the state lands and the counties."

 

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