Two property owners owned adjacent land that was zoned Agricultural Zone A-1. One property owner filed an application to rezone to Agricultural Zone A-2, which was approved. Giltner Dairy, the other property owner, filed a petition for review of the decision to grant the application (ostensibly because the dairy farm was concerned that the rezoning to allow for residential development would create conflicts with the farm and lead to, among other things, nuisance lawsuits). The district court determined that specific judicial review provisions for zoning decisions found in the Local Land Use Planning Act (LLUPA) displaced the court’s jurisdiction to review the application. Giltner Dairy appealed the dismissal of their petition for judicial review.
On appeal, the Court was asked to determine whether Giltner Dairy, a party affected by the Board of County Commissioners’ decision under LLUPA, could seek judicial review pursuant to Idaho Code §31-1506 even if the LLUPA did not explicitly authorize review since permits had not yet been issued (which is what would have triggered review). Here, the Court noted that the LLUPA grants judicial review in certain circumstances and therefore, the legislature wanted the provisions pertaining to judicial review to be exclusive. As such, the Court noted that the LLUPA displaces the Idaho Code and the Idaho Code did not authorize judicial review in this instance. The district court’s dismissal of Giltner Dairy’s petition was affirmed.
Subsequent to the filing of the initial lawsuit, the State legislature amended the scope of judicial review to include zoning concerns, and it was suggested in an occurring opinion that Giltner’s claim may have had a different outcome had it filed an update to reflect the amended law, or even referenced such change during oral argument.
Giltner Dairy, LLC v. Jerome County, 2011 WL 917332 (Idaho, 3/17/2011)
The opinion can be accessed at: http://www.isc.idaho.gov/opinions/GILTNER%2036528.pdf
LAW OF THE LAND 
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