State Ex Rel. Kempthorne v. Blaine County

Justice SCHROEDER,

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent from the conclusion of the Court that the statutory scheme im*352munizes mineral leases on endowment lands from local zoning regulations. Idaho Code Section 67-6528 of the Local Land Use Planning Act provides that the State of Idaho “shall comply with all plans and ordinances adopted under this chapter unless otherwise provided by law.” Section 67-6528 then specifically exempts “transportation systems of statewide importance as may be determined by the Idaho transportation board” and certain actions of the public utilities commission. The legislature clearly expressed the exemptions from the Local Land Use Planning Act. Endowment lands are not immunized from the reach of regulations adopted pursuant to the Local Land Use Planning Act as are certain acts of the Idaho transportation board and the Idaho public utilities commission. 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. Consequently, the Court should determine that the mineral leases on the endowment lands in issue in this case are subject to the local zoning ordinances unless there is a constitutional mandate for the management of the endowment lands that trumps the local ordinances or that the county has acted beyond the scope of its authority.