Flathead County District Court Judge Stewart Stadler recently dismissed a lawsuit from a local property-rights group that called on the court to void the county’s subdivision regulations.
The suit, filed by American Dream Montana last December, contended that the county’s subdivision regulations were adopted illegally because the county did not demonstrate how each regulation met a compelling state interest to interfere with a landowner’s constitutional right to private property.
The subdivision regulations outline the steps developers need to take to get a new project approved. They only apply to those subdividing land. The Flathead County Commission enacted the regulations in August 2007. They were amended with an effective starting date in January 2009.
The lawsuit contends the county regulations should be revoked for multiple reasons and alleges that aspects of them are more stringent than comparable state law; are contradictory to other regulations or impossible under state law; constitute a per se taking of land; deny a citizen’s right to due process; and that several procedural aspects within the regulations are “intentionally used to discourage development,” among others.
None of these concerns, however, were addressed in Stadler’s ruling. Instead, the judge ruled that American Dream Montana had no standing to bring the case.
Part of American Dream’s suit asserted that, because some of its members are surveyors and engineers, they are considered subdividers “when acting in their professional capacity of the landowners.”
The lawsuit reasoned that the engineers and surveyors would be subject to criminal prosecution for allegedly violating the subdivision regulations, and therefore would suffer injury under the regulations.
Stadler disagreed, noting that group’s claims were not supported by the Montana Development Code’s definition for subdividers.
“It is an unsupported leap to claim that engineers and surveyors are subdividers,” Stadler wrote in his ruling. “There are no allegations in the complaint that any of the members of American Dream Montana are acting in their professional capacity as agents to someone who is causing or proposes to cause the subdivision of land.”
Furthermore, Stadler found that American Dream Montana did not provide sufficient evidence to prove the alleged imminent injury its members would suffer under the regulations, nor does the lawsuit prove that American Dream Montana has personal standing because it participated in public hearings when the county crafted the regulations.
“Having followed the legislative process of adoption of the subdivision regulations by the county does not create an interest distinguishable from the public at large,” Stadler wrote.
American Dream Montana chairman Russ Crowder said the group was not surprised with the outcome because it understood that suing the county would probably be a futile effort.
“We’re not naive enough to go in and think in Flathead County you’re going to go in and defend your property rights in court,” Crowder said.
Crowder said he thinks there is a pervasive bias against those whole file complaints to defend property rights by highlighting the county’s alleged illegal activity.
Crowder also said the dismissal does have a silver lining.
“I think in some ways the judge may have done the property owners a favor in Flathead County,” Crowder said.
He reasoned that by filing the lawsuit, American Dream Montana put enough pressure on the county that the Flathead County commissioners formed the Subdivision Regulations Review Committee.
“It took a long time to turn us down on standing. We’re kind of grateful that [Stadler] did take that time,” Crowder said.
The review committee was tasked with analyzing the regulations and assessing consistency and ease of use, according to Flathead County Planning Director Jeff Harris. The regulations also needed to be checked for compliance with state law.
Whether the lawsuit was the impetus behind the committee is uncertain, Harris added, because it was a county commission decision.
Regardless of the incentive behind the committee, Harris said the lawsuit’s dismissal would take pressure off the committee as it prepares to bring its findings to the commissioners.
“This has always been a cloud over that process,” Harris said. “And now that it’s resolved it should provide some daylight for them to finish up their work.”
The review committee was initially supposed to take about three months to go through the regulations, Harris said, but they have taken an in-depth look at the document for about a year and half. This has resulted in reformatting the regulations by combining sections, particularly those dealing with administrative procedures, Harris said.
Policy has largely been left alone, Harris said, but there have been some recommended changes, which will be presented to the county commission for approval.
Though American Dream Montana has no immediate plans to file a new lawsuit, Crowder said the group will wait to see the subdivision regulation review committee’s work and take it from there.
“We really have no rush to continue this on,” Crowder said.