Paul J. Burroughs, Kenneth Burroughs, Terri Spinner, David Spinner, Sean Harvey, And Ty Harvey v. The City Of Davenport Zoning Board Of Adjustment, The City Of Davenport, Iowa, An Iowa Municipal Corporation, And MZ Annie-Ru Daycare Center, An Iowa Limited Liability Company
Paul J. Burroughs, Kenneth Burroughs, Terri Spinner, David Spinner, Sean Harvey, And Ty Harvey v. The City Of Davenport Zoning Board Of Adjustment, The City Of Davenport, Iowa, An Iowa Municipal Corporation, And MZ Annie-Ru Daycare Center, An Iowa Limited Liability Company
Opinion of the Court
This case requires us to interpret Iowa Code section 414.15, which requires a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of a decision of a city zoning board of adjustment to be filed in district court "within thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board."
*476
I. Facts and Proceedings.
To operate a daycare facility in Davenport, one must obtain a special use permit from the Davenport Zoning Board of Adjustment. In March 2014, the Board of Adjustment granted Tiny Tots Learning Center (Tiny Tots) a permit to operate at 1112 Bridge Avenue. Tiny Tots had leased the premises from the landowner. Tiny Tots, however, closed its doors in December 2014. The property stood vacant from December 2014 to July 2016.
In July 2016, Mz. Annie-Ru Daycare Center (Annie-Ru), a new lessee of the premises, opened a daycare at the same location. Annie-Ru supervises more children and is open for longer hours than Tiny Tots.
The following month, a nearby resident named Kenneth Burroughs and several other residents wrote the zoning administrator, challenging Annie-Ru's right to operate. In response, the zoning administrator reiterated his view that the special use permit ran with the land, that it was still valid, and that Annie-Ru's operations complied with that special use permit. He also advised the complaining residents they could appeal his decision to the Board of Adjustment. Burroughs and the others did so on September 7.
The residents' appeal came on for a public hearing before the Board of Adjustment on October 13. Burroughs and others who appeared argued that Tiny Tots' special use permit was not transferable to Annie-Ru. City staff disagreed. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Board of Adjustment voted 4-0 to uphold the City staff's recommendation. After the vote, the chairperson of the Board of Adjustment advised the complaining residents they could file a petition to revoke Annie-Ru's special use permit.
The minutes of the Board of Adjustment's October 13 meeting describe the appeal and then state as follows:
Flynn presented the staff report. Staff position is that a Special Use Permit runs with the land and not with the applicant.
Staff stated that notices were sent to 8 property owners within 200 feet of the subject property. Staff received 0 letters in opposition to the request.
Recommendation and Findings of Fact
City Staff stands by its interpretation that Mz. Annie-Ru Daycare Center LLC is legally entitled to operate under the provisions of the Special Use Permit issued to Tiny Tots Daycare and requests the Zoning Board of Adjustment uphold its decision.
The petitioner [ (Burroughs) ] addressed the Board and reiterated the request, claiming that Special Use Permits do not run with the land.
*477Numerous persons spoke in favor of the appeal (please see the video for name and addresses).
Two persons spoke against the appeal and in favor of staff's interpretation of the code.
One was the representative of the owner of 1112 Bridge Avenue and the other was City staff attorney Chris Jackson.
Attorney Chris Jackson quoted three separate zoning authorities on the topic which all confirmed that Special Use Permits do run with the land (and not the applicant).
Motion:
Reistroffer moved to uphold staff[']s recommendation. Woodard seconded the motion and it carried (4-0) on a roll call vote.
Strayhall, yes; Reistroffer, yes; Woodard, yes; and Hart, yes.
These minutes were posted on the City's website and available for public inspection in advance of the next meeting on October 27. However, when posted they had not been actually approved. Approval did not occur until the October 27 meeting.
On November 14, Burroughs and other nearby residents filed a petition to revoke Annie-Ru's special use permit.
The minutes of the Board of Adjustment's December 8 meeting summarize the petition to revoke and then contain the following information:
Staff stated that notices were sent to adjacent owners within 200 feet of the subject property. Staff received 3 emails in support of the request.
Recommendation and Findings of Fact
FINDINGS
1. The location, design, construction and operation of the day care center adequately safeguard[ ] the health, safety, and general welfare of persons residing or working in adjoining or surrounding property.
2. The day care center does not impair an adequate supply of light and air to surrounding property.
3. The day care center does not unduly increase congestion in the streets, or public danger of fire and safety.
4. The day care center does not diminish or impair established property values in adjoining or surrounding property.
5. The day care center is in accord with the intent, purpose and spirit of the Zoning Ordinance and Davenport 2025: Comprehensive Plan for the City.
RECOMMENDATION
The Special Use Permit [ (SUP) ] is in compliance with the 'Criteria for Granting a Special Use Permit' and the conditions placed on the Permit at the time of granting. Based on this compliance and the Findings above, staff recommends that the revocation be denied.
The petitioner addressed the Board and reiterated the request.
Multiple persons spoke in favor of the request. Multiple persons spoke against the request, including the property owner and the daycare operator.
The Board discussed the request and the issues surrounding the neighborhood.
*478There are two SUPs in the neighborhood, one at 1112 Bridge and the other at 1118 Bridge. The Board found that the issues have to do with enforcement of on-street parking regulations.
Motion:
Hart stated that the Board has the authority to impose conditions on SUP14-02, but that could be a separate matter from the revocation.
Reistroffer moved to revoke SUP14-02. Woodard seconded the motion and it failed (0-4) on a roll call vote.
Strahall, no; Reistroffer, no; Woodard, no; and Hart, no.
The December 8 meeting minutes were posted on the City's website and available for public viewing on December 19. However, when posted they had not yet been approved. Indeed, the agenda for the December 22 meeting included "[c]onsideration of the minutes from the December 8, 2016 public hearing" as one of the agenda items. Thus, approval of the December 8 minutes did not occur until the next Board meeting, on December 22. The minutes for the December 22 meeting reflect that this was the first action at that meeting and happened unanimously by voice vote. These minutes were not posted to the City's website until January 6, 2017.
On January 25, Burroughs and five other nearby residents filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the Iowa District Court for Scott County challenging the Board of Adjustment's October 13, 2016 and December 8, 2016 decisions. The City and the Board of Adjustment (hereafter collectively "the City") and Annie-Ru were named as defendants. On February 3, 2017, the City filed a motion to dismiss, asserting the petition for certiorari was untimely because it was not filed within thirty days of the challenged decisions.
The plaintiffs resisted the motion. They argued that a signed written decision with factual findings was necessary to trigger the thirty-day deadline for seeking certiorari review. Alternatively, they argued that even if minutes of the Board's meetings could be sufficient in some circumstances to start the thirty-day time period, the December 8 minutes were not properly filed at that time and did not become properly filed until early January 2017, within the thirty-day deadline. The plaintiffs also supplemented their resistance with an affidavit from an individual who had visited the Davenport Planning Department on February 13 and asked to see "the official Board [of Adjustment] file on the Board's actions pertaining to real property located at 1112 Bridge Avenue ...." In response, the City had emailed a file that, according to the affiant, contained neither a written decision nor minutes relating to the October 13, 2016 and the December 8, 2016 decisions.
Following a hearing, the district court granted the City's motion on April 13. The court concluded that the "thirty day time period begins to run from the time the appealing party has either actual knowledge or is chargeable with knowledge of the decision to be appealed." Because it was "undisputed" that plaintiffs attended both the October 13 and the December 8 meetings, they had actual knowledge of the Board's decisions as of those dates: "[T]he Court cannot hold that they did not have actual knowledge or chargeable knowledge of the decision which they witnessed firsthand ...."
The plaintiffs appealed, and we retained the appeal.
II. Standard of Review.
Our review of a certiorari action is for correction of errors at law.
*479Chrischilles v. Arnolds Park Zoning Bd. of Adjustment ,
III. Analysis.
In this appeal, each side has an initial and a fallback position. The City's first line of argument is that a party's actual or constructive knowledge of a Board decision starts the thirty-day clock running, regardless of whether that decision has been filed (and regardless of whether that decision has even been reduced to writing). The plaintiffs' first line of argument is that a decision cannot start the appeal clock until it not only has been reduced to writing and properly filed, but also has been signed and contains sufficient findings of fact . In the event that our court accepts neither of these front-line arguments, the parties engage in a second-tier debate on what it means for a decision to be filed "in the office of the board."
A. Does Actual or Constructive Knowledge of a Board Decision Start the Appellate Clock Running? Iowa Code section 414.15 provides that a petition for certiorari seeking review of a board of adjustment decision "shall be presented to the court within thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board."
If the Chrischilles had a quarrel with the legality of the variance, they were obligated under section 414.15 to challenge it within thirty days. See Arkae Dev., Inc. v. Zoning Bd. ,312 N.W.2d 574 , 577 (Iowa 1981) (time for taking an appeal under chapter 414 runs from time appealing party chargeable with knowledge of decision to be appealed).
Relying on the text of rule 1.1402(3) and the foregoing excerpt from Chrischilles , the City maintains that a party's deadline for seeking certiorari review of a board of adjustment decision starts to run as soon as the party has actual or constructive knowledge of the decision, even if the decision is merely made orally at a meeting and not reduced to writing.
We are not persuaded. Iowa Code section 414.15 governs certiorari actions seeking review of board of adjustment decisions. It clearly provides a deadline of "thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board."
Chrischilles , in our view, does not countermand the clear text of Iowa Code section 414.15. In that case, the issue was whether the Chrischilles could challenge a decision to issue a zoning variance that had occurred fifteen months before the Chrischilles went to court. See
Chrischilles does include a parenthetical blurb on Arkae Development that the "time for taking an appeal under chapter 414 runs from [the] time [the] appealing party [was] chargeable with knowledge of [the] decision to be appealed." See Chrischilles ,
In sum, we believe the plain language of Iowa Code section 414.15 controls here, not the text of rule 1.1402(3) or our prior decisions in Chrischilles and Arkae . An aggrieved party has "thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board."
B. Must a Decision Be Signed and Contain Sufficient Findings of Fact to Start the Appellate Clock Running? Having decided that the City's front-line position is incorrect, we will now turn to the plaintiffs' front-line position. They argue that a decision must meet certain formalities, including factual findings, in order to start the appeal deadline running under Iowa Code section 414.15.
The plaintiffs call our attention to Citizens Against Lewis & Clark (Mowery) Landfill v. Pottawattamie County Board of Adjustment ,
In view of this finding, it is unnecessary to rule on the specific objections raised by plaintiffs concerning the manner in which this hearing was conducted. However, we believe the question concerning the board's duty to make written findings merits discussion. There is no statutory requirement that the board do so. However, there is no doubt such findings would be of great benefit, both to the trial court and to this court on certiorari or appeal from the board's decisions. They would provide a ready basis for determining the reasons for the board's action and would help immeasurably in determining whether the result was reasonable or was, as is frequently claimed, arbitrary and capricious. It would also serve the additional purpose of sharpening the issues the parties should raise on appeal.
....
These are compelling considerations which have persuaded us to adopt the rule that boards of adjustment shall make written findings of fact on all issues presented in any adjudicatory proceeding. Such findings must be sufficient to enable a reviewing court to determine with reasonable certainty the factual basis and legal principles upon which the board acted. This rule shall apply to board of adjustment proceedings after the date this opinion is filed.
Id . at 925 (citations omitted).
The City responds that the written findings requirement announced in Citizens was qualified somewhat in a subsequent city zoning case. See Bontrager Auto Serv. v. Iowa City Bd. of Adjustment ,
The plaintiffs add that the requirement for written findings not only comes from our caselaw but also is part of the Davenport Municipal Code. In particular, Davenport Municipal Code section 17.52.020(B) requires,
The board shall keep minutes of its proceedings showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall also keep records of its hearing and other official actions. Findings of facts shall be included in the minutes of each case of requested variation and the reasons for recommending or denying such variation shall be specified. Every rule or regulation, every amendment or repeal thereof, and every order, requirement, decision or determination of the board shall be filed immediately in the office of the board and shall be a public record.
Davenport, Iowa, Municipal Code § 17.52.020(B). The City responds that the minutes of the Board of Adjustment complied with section 17.52.020(B).
More tellingly, the City responds that the timeliness of a certiorari petition is a *482matter expressly governed by Iowa Code section 414.15 and is a separate question from the completeness of the decision being reviewed. That is, once a party seeking judicial review files a timely petition, the party can raise deficiencies in the underlying decision, including the absence of sufficient findings. But a timely petition comes first.
We agree with the City. A timely appeal is necessary to confer jurisdiction on the district court. See City of Des Moines v. City Dev. Bd. ,
By way of analogy, in Bauman v. Maple Valley Community School District , we held that a petition seeking judicial review of the outcome of an election contest was untimely.
Other courts agree that the time for appeal from a zoning decision runs from the date of the decision, regardless of the alleged adequacy of any findings of fact. See Hoagland v. Town of Clear Lake Bd. of Zoning Appeals ,
*483There are sound policy reasons for this approach. The deadline to petition the district court for a writ of certiorari ought to be as clear as possible. Plaintiffs, however, would subject the determination of that deadline to the unpredictable outcome of a debate over the sufficiency of factual findings.
Significantly, our certiorari rule requires the petition to be filed "within 30 days from the time the tribunal, board or officer exceeded its jurisdiction or otherwise acted illegally." Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.1402(3). Plaintiffs' interpretation of "decision" as including only those decisions supported by sufficient findings of fact would create a stark conflict between Iowa Code section 414.15 and Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 1.1402(3), a circumstance we normally try to avoid.
C. When Is a Decision "Fil[ed] ... in the Office of the Board"? We now turn to what we believe to be the dispositive issue in this appeal-when is a decision actually "fil[ed] ... in the office of the board"?
First, we believe that to be filed , a decision cannot be simply oral. It must exist in some documentary form. To file something is "[t]o deliver a legal document to the court clerk or record custodian for placement into the official record" or "[t]o record or deposit something in an organized retention system or container for preservation and future reference." File , Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014). Official minutes can, of course, be used to memorialize a decision. Indeed, the Davenport Municipal Code appears to contemplate that procedure. See Davenport, Iowa, Municipal Code § 17.52.020(B). But there must be some type of document that is filed.
Second, the decision can be filed in electronic rather than paper form. The general assembly has adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. See Iowa Code ch. 554D. Its purpose is "[t]o facilitate electronic transactions consistent with other applicable law." Id . § 554D.107(1). It provides that "[a] record ... shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form." Id . § 554D.108(1). The term "transaction" includes "an action or set of actions occurring between two or more persons relating to the conduct of ... governmental affairs." Id . § 554D.103(16). "Person" is broadly defined to mean, among other things, an individual or governmental agency. Id . § 554D.103(12). Furthermore, Iowa Code section 554D.120 empowers-indeed requires-
a governmental agency of this state other than a state executive branch agency, department, board, commission, authority, or institution, [to] determine whether, and the extent to which, [it] ... will create, generate, communicate, store, process, use, and rely upon electronic records.
Id . § 554D.120(1).
In State v. Fischer , we held that even though the implied-consent law required a "written request" to the driver, this could be met by showing the driver a computer screen. See
Our own branch uses electronic records, not hardcopy records, to meet a statutory requirement that a specific "record book" be "kept by the [district court] clerk." See *484
The following books shall be kept by the clerk:
a. A record book which contains the entries of the proceedings of the court and which has an index referring to each proceeding in each cause under the names of the parties, both plaintiff and defendant, and under the name of each person named in either party.
Third, we believe that a document has been filed in the "office of the board" when it has been posted on the board's publicly available website that the board uses as a repository for official documents. In this regard, we are guided by our earlier decision in Holding v. Franklin County Zoning Board of Adjustment ,
The lesson we draw from Holding is that the office of the board is not strictly a matter of geography. If a private home can be deemed an office of the board, a public website that is maintained and controlled by the board and used as a clearinghouse for official documents can likewise be deemed an office of the board-even if the server for that website happens to be located outside the board's regular physical offices.
But there are some limits to this principle. Given the circumstances in Holding , we decided that an appeal that had been taken after the board had voted to approve the conditional use permit but before a signed, written decision had been filed should be considered timely. Id . at 321. We emphasized that the county zoning statutes required records of official actions to be "immediately" filed in the office of the board, and where this had not occurred, the plaintiffs could not be faulted for filing their petition for writ of certiorari too soon.
Notably, the city zoning statutes contain the same immediate filing requirement. They provide in part,
The board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which *485shall be immediately filed in the office of the board and shall be a public record.
Also, in Purethane, Inc. v. Iowa State Board of Tax Review , which involved an administrative appeal under Iowa Code section 17A.19, we concluded,
In the absence of a file or entry system by which the public and parties to a controversy before the board of tax review can learn of the board's decision, due process requires the statutory appeal period begins to run when the board decision is officially made available as a public record.
So where does this leave us? We agree with the City that the posting of minutes to the Board's official website setting forth the Board's decision can constitute the "filing of the decision in the office of the board." However, the plaintiffs raise a valid point concerning the status of those minutes. What the Board initially posted on its website following each Board meeting were unapproved, and therefore unofficial, minutes. Those minutes were not approved until the subsequent meeting of the Board and that approval was not shown on the website until sometime thereafter. We believe the City cannot rely on the posting of an item it reserves the right to change, such as unapproved minutes that are subject to revision, as "the filing of the decision." See
A Louisiana decision is on point. See Aucoin v. City of Mandeville ,
Even more on point is a Texas case also decided under essentially the same statutory language. See Sanchez v. Bd. of Adjustment ,
Texas law requires a petition to be filed "within 10 days after the date the decision is filed in the board's office." Id . at 751 (quoting
The Texas Court of Appeals first considered what amounts to a "decision." Id . at 751. It held that an electronic recording of the meeting was not a decision.
Next, the court turned to the question of when the decision had been "filed in the board's office." Id . The court held that unapproved minutes stored on the assistant's work laptop could not be considered filed. Id . Instead, filing occurred when the minutes had been approved and posted on-line on October 19.
Here the plaintiffs sought certiorari review of two separate Board actions-(1) its recognition of Annie-Ru's special use permit and (2) its later refusal to revoke that permit. The first action occurred at an October 13, 2016 Board meeting; the second at a December 8, 2016 Board meeting. The plaintiffs did not file suit until January 25, 2017. However, we conclude the challenge to the refusal to revoke the permit is timely because the unapproved minutes of the December 8, 2016 meeting posted to the Board's website on December 19 do not amount to "the filing of the decision." See id . On the other hand, the plaintiffs do not contest that the minutes of the October 13 Board meeting had been posted, that they had been approved, and that the approval had been posted on the Board's website more than thirty days before the plaintiffs went to court. This portion of the plaintiffs' challenge is therefore untimely.
IV. Conclusion.
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court's order to the extent it dismissed the challenge brought by Burroughs and other residents to the Board of Adjustment's refusal to revoke Annie-Ru's special use permit. We affirm that order to the extent it dismissed their challenge to the Board's initial recognition of that special use permit. We remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.
All justices concur except Appel and Wiggins, JJ., who concur in part and dissent in part, and Hecht and Waterman, JJ., who take no part.
Annie-Ru is open 24/7 and supervises up to 120 children per day.
Under the Davenport Municipal Code, a special use permit may be revoked after a public hearing where a petition of over twenty percent of the property owners located in the 200 feet notification area, stating valid reasons for additional review, is submitted to the board of adjustment. Davenport, Iowa, Municipal Code § 17.48.050 (2016).
Another one of our prior cases that does not speak to the present controversy is City of Johnston v. Christenson ,
Iowa Code chapter 335 relates to county zoning. It contains a number of provisions analogous to those in chapter 414 relating to city zoning. Compare
In re CAFRA Permit No. 87-0959-5 Issued to Gateway Associates is not to the contrary. See
We further note that the Board of Adjustment's use of web-posted meeting minutes as its method of filing decisions has had two effects. First, it has meant that filing does not occur "immediately" after the decision is made as required by Iowa Code section 414.9. Second, it has resulted in some uncertainty as to when filing actually occurs, as illustrated by this case. Those parallel the two difficulties noted in Holding ,
Concurring in Part
This case involves the proper interpretation of Iowa Code section 414.15 (2015), which governs challenges to decisions of the Board of Adjustment (Board). See Chrischilles v. Arnolds Park Zoning Bd. of Adjustment ,
The Davenport Municipal Code section 17.52.020(B) (2016) relates to the filing of the Board decisions. It states,
The board shall keep minutes of its proceedings showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact and shall also keep records of its hearing and other official actions. Findings of facts shall be included in the minutes of *487each case of requested variation and the reasons for recommending or denying such variation shall be specified. Every rule or regulation, every amendment or repeal thereof, and every order, requirement, decision or determination of the board shall be filed immediately in the office of the board and shall be a public record.
Davenport, Iowa, Municipal Code § 17.52.020(B).
The majority concludes the posting of the official, approved minutes of testimony on the Board's public website would trigger the thirty-day appeal period. The bare-bones minutes from the October 13, 2016 meeting lacks findings and merely contains conclusions. The minutes from the December 8, 2016 meeting fare slightly better in that it contains some findings. The plaintiffs do not contest that the Board approved the minutes from the October 13 meeting. On the other hand, the Board had not approved the minutes from the December 8 meeting until December 22 and the Board had not posted the minutes on-line until January 6, 2017. Because proposed minutes do not constitute a decision, the majority finds the challenge based on the December minutes timely. The majority, however, finds the challenge based on the October minutes untimely. I cannot agree that the minutes constitute a filed decision within the meaning of section 414.15.
I begin with some preliminary concepts. We often resolve ambiguities as to whether an appeal is timely in favor of the party seeking judicial review of the Board's decision. K & J Assocs. v. City of Lebanon ,
In Kline , the court addressed the issue of "[w]hat is the date of [the] entry of the matter for review?"
In addition, it is well established that a decision must be a final determination of the parties' rights in the case. See Elbert County v. Sweet City Landfill, LLC ,
The most important question, however, is what constitutes a "decision." If reasonable minds could differ as to the meaning of a statutory term, the term is ambiguous. State v. Lopez ,
In In re CAFRA Permit No. 87-0959-5 Issued to Gateway Associates , the New Jersey Supreme Court stated a determination by an agency lacking in adequate factual findings and legal conclusions is not a final decision for appeal purposes under the applicable court rule.
"Decision" may also mean "a determination arrived at after consideration." Decision , Webster's Third New International Dictionary (unabr. ed. 2002). "Decision" may be considered synonymous with "conclusion."
The Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas in Thorn reached a different conclusion than the New Jersey Supreme Court did in CAFRA . In Thorn , the plaintiff argued the board did not a render a decision because it lacked findings of fact, conclusions, and reasons.
This case is distinguishable from Thorn. The court in Thorn defined "decision" in context of the applicable statute. Specifically, the Pennsylvania legislature explicitly distinguished "decision" from accompanying findings of fact and conclusions. Thus, to give effect to the legislature's intent, the court treated the decision as separate and distinct from the findings of fact, reasons, and conclusions. On the other hand, Iowa Code section 414.15 simply provides "within thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board."
*490The question is whether we should follow the approach in CAFRA or that in Thorn to interpret the term "decision" in section 414.15. We should give the statute a practical construction. The need for a practical construction is especially true in contested cases in which the parties partake in an evidentiary hearing. See Polk County v. Iowa State Appeal Bd. ,
In Citizens Against Lewis & Clark (Mowery) Landfill v. Pottawattamie County Board of Adjustment , we emphasized the importance of making written findings.
[W]e believe the question concerning the board's duty to make written findings merits discussion. There is no statutory requirement that the board do so. However, there is no doubt such findings would be of great benefit, both to the trial court and to this court on certiorari or appeal from the board's decisions. They would provide a ready basis for determining the reasons for the board's action and would help immeasurably in determining whether the result was reasonable or was, as is frequently claimed, arbitrary and capricious. It would also serve the additional purpose of sharpening the issues the parties should raise on appeal.
....
The practical reasons for requiring administrative findings are so powerful that the requirement has been imposed with remarkable uniformity by virtually all federal and state courts, irrespective of a statutory requirement. The reasons have to do with facilitating judicial review, avoiding judicial usurpation of administrative functions, assuring more careful administrative consideration, helping parties plan their cases for rehearings and judicial review, and keeping agencies within their jurisdiction.
These are compelling considerations which have persuaded us to adopt the rule that boards of adjustment shall make written findings of fact on all issues presented in any adjudicatory proceeding. Such findings must be sufficient to enable a reviewing court to determine with reasonable certainty the factual basis and legal principles upon which the board acted. This rule shall apply to board of adjustment proceedings after the date this opinion is filed.
Id . at 925 (emphases added) (citations omitted) (quoting K. Davis, Administrative Law § 16.05 (2d ed. 1978)).
*491In simpler terms, the efficient and orderly function of the process of meaningful judicial review requires the Board to lay out clearly the basis on which its conclusions rest. See Topanga Ass'n for a Scenic Cmty. v. County of Los Angeles ,
Additionally, our standard of review in certiorari actions is for correction of errors at law. Stream v. Gordy ,
Moreover, in our review of a certiorari action, we consider whether the Board's decision was illegal. "Illegality exists when the court's factual findings lack substantial evidentiary support, or when the court has not properly applied the law." Christensen v. Iowa Dist. Ct. ,
Lastly, the consequences of foregoing the requirement of findings in a decision that triggers the running of the appeal period for judicial review are undesirable:
If no findings are made, and if the court elects not to remand, its clumsy alternative is to read the record, speculate upon the portions which probably were believed by the board, guess at the conclusions drawn from credited portions, construct a basis for decision, and try to determine whether a decision thus arrived at should be sustained. In the process, the court is required to do much that is assigned to the board, and the latter becomes a relatively inefficient instrument for the construction of a record.
Fields v. Kodiak City Council ,
The City argues Iowa Code section 414.15 expressly governs the timeliness of a certiorari petition, and the question of *492the completeness of the decision is a separate issue. The thrust of the City's argument is that even when findings may be required, the lack thereof may not toll the statutory period to appeal the Board's decision. A party seeking judicial review must first file a timely petition in order to raise deficiencies in the underlying decision.
A timely appeal is necessary for jurisdictional purposes. See City of Des Moines v. City Dev. Bd. ,
In Fields , the Alaska Supreme Court observed that the statute governing appeals from board decisions "requires an aggrieved party seeking review to specify the grounds for the appeal."
Applying the principles espoused in Fields to this case, I would find that a decision must at least contain some findings such that an aggrieved party may properly raise deficiencies in a decision by "specifying the grounds of the illegality"-as required by Iowa Code section 414.15 -within the thirty-day appeal period. Otherwise, the party would have no access to meaningful judicial review. Compare Fields ,
As to the definition of "filing," I am not inclined to find that a decision buried in the minutes constitutes filing within the meaning of section 414.15. I refer to Glabach v. Sardelli ,
*493In Glabach , the Vermont Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether the board could render a decision without recording and mailing notice of it.
Here, Iowa Code section 414.15 provides "within thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board." This section requires filing in the office of the board such that the aggrieved party seeking judicial review has notice of the decision. I do not think a decision buried in the minutes gives sufficient notice to the involved parties. Such a decision requires a fishing expedition on the part of the aggrieved party and reviewing courts. It also promotes laxity and inattentiveness on the part of the Board in regards to setting forth a clear decision delineating its findings in a documentary form apart from the minutes. See Topanga ,
Based on the foregoing, I would find the Board must file written findings of fact, reasons, legal principles, and conclusions before the thirty-day period in section 414.15 commences to run.
Wiggins, J., joins this concurrence in part and dissent in part.
When applying the tools of statutory construction, it is invaluable to exercise care in order to examine, not glance at, the language of the applicable statutes. In Beckford v. Town of Clifton , the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine examined the relevant statute, which states, "Any party may take an appeal within 45 days of the date of the vote on the original decision ...."
The Vermont Supreme Court in Leo's Motors, Inc. overturned Glabach because the concern in Glabach -that appeal rights could be lost if the board neglected to comply with the notification requirements of the relevant statute and decided to bury the decision in the minutes-was allayed by Nash v. Warren Zoning Board of Adjustment ,
that a ... decision can be considered rendered before notice is mailed to the applicant if the board has made a decision and given the parties actual notice of its action before the expiration of the forty-five day period, regardless of when the decision is reduced to writing.
Leo's Motors, Inc. ,
I do not comment whether the minutes from the December 8, 2016 meeting is sufficient to enable the plaintiffs to specify the grounds of the alleged illegality.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Paul J. BURROUGHS, Kenneth Burroughs, Terri Spinner, David Spinner, Sean Harvey, and Ty Harvey, Appellants, v. the CITY OF DAVENPORT ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT, the City of Davenport, Iowa, an Iowa Municipal Corporation, and Mz. Annie-Ru Daycare Center, an Iowa Limited Liability Company, Appellees.
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