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December 25, 20091 Volume31 No. f4 Zoning Bulletin The Supreme Court of Montana agreed with the Board, finding "a reasonable emergency existed to enact the interim zoning" on Liberty Cove's Property. The Court explained that, according to a 2002 Montana attor- ney general opinion 'on MCA $ 76-2-206, an "emergency" allowing for interim zoning would be present if: "there [was] some exigent cir- cumstance impacting the public health, safety and welfare, and zoning, [was] required to address the exigency." Whether circumstances con- stituted such an "exigency" depended on the case-by-case facts. Here, found the Couri:, relevant facts changed from December 2007 to May 2008. By May 2008', the Board "realized that DEQ could issue a min- ing permit without additional environmental review and that chang- es in access to the gravel mine would not require an MDT permit." "Since the [Board's] earlier findings were based on facts that were no longer applicable, the Board was justified in finding an emergency re- lated t9 issues of public health, safety, and welfare due to regulatory deficiencies," concluded the court. The Court also rejected Liberty Cove's argument that the interim zoning constituted an illegal reverse spot zoning. The Court held that interim z'oning could not be challenged as spot zoning. Among other things, the Court's "spot zoning test" would invalidate zoning as spot zoning when it was not in accord with a comprehensive plan. How- ever, noted the Court, interim zoning could be adopted without a' com- prehensive plan. "Indeed, interim zoning allows a local government to enact temporary zoning to avoid suffering serious detriment while pursuing the necessary planning efforts to adopt a growth policy ...." Noting that interim zoning was "effective for only one year (with the authority to extend it for another year) and [could] be implemented without a growth policy in place," the Court concluded that "spot zoning challenges [were] not applicable to interim zoning measures." See also: Little v. Board of County Com'rs. of Flathead County, 193 , Mont. 334, 631 P.2d 1282 (1981). Case Note: Liberty Cove had also argued that the county had failed to give proper notice before adopting the interim zoning. Notice and, hearing related to interim zoning are governed by Montana statutory law (MCA S 76-2-205). The court concluded that, "since Liberty Cove received notice and had an opportunity to be heard, any error in [the county's] notice was harmless." 10 @ 2009 Thomson Reuters 84 (~) (~) ( )' ,- I I I l I I I I I I I, I I I I j I 1 I I i I I I I I I I I I ! \' i I I I i I , i I j 1 I I i , i i j !