Bd of Comm. of LaPorte County, et al. v. Town & Country Utilities, Inc. (Ind.Ct.App. 7/10/03)
Sharpnack, Judge
The issue here was the extent of the local government's zoning authority over a solid waste landfill's location within its jurisdiction. LaPorte County's Board of Commissioners had adopted, as a part of its master plan, Section 8-20, which required that a Petitioner seeking a variance or special exception to develop a sanitary landfill or solid waste facility:
First, provide to the board of zoning appeal written approval from the LaPorte solid waste district board regarding the need for the facility and that the proposed landfill would meet the criteria, and
Second, meet the variance or special exception requirements of Section 8-18 of the Master Plan.
Town & Country claimed that Section 8-20 was preempted by Indiana law and was improper local legislation:
Specifically, Town and Country had alleged in its complaint that, because the Indiana General Assembly delegated the responsibility of siting, construction, operation, closing, and monitoring of landfills in Indiana to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (“IDEM”) and the Indiana Solid Waste Management Board (State Solid Waste Management Board”), the entire field of regulation and rulemaking on landfills was preempted. Accordingly, Town and Country contended that “[t]he enactment and subsequent enforcement of Section 8- 20 [was] in violation of the preemption over the entire field of regulation and control of the siting and construction of landfills in Indiana, which is vested with the [IDEM] and the [State Solid Waste Management Board.]”The trial court found that Section 8-20 was not a zoning ordinance because its enactment exceeded the scope of the Board of Comm's authority. The trial court also found that the Home Rule Act (IC 36-1-3-1) preempted the enactment of Section 8-20. The Court of Appeals reversed on both points:
It is clear that county solid waste management districts are an integral part of the overall state system for addressing, among other things, solid waste management and disposal. They are charged with assessing the needs of their respective districts and there is nothing that conflicts with the permitting function of IDEM in a county district determining if there is a need for a landfill in the district. One of the things that must be demonstrated to the Department is that there is a local or regional need for a proposed landfill. Ind. Code § 13-20-1-2. Consequently, it is not unreasonable for the zoning authority to require a needs assessment from the county solid waste management district before going further in its consideration of an application for a special exception to locate a landfill in its jurisdiction.Posted by Marcia Oddi at July 13, 2003 01:00 PMMoreover, to the extent that Section 8-20 regulates the use of certain land as a landfill, it is authorized by a combination of zonings laws and the establishment of districts. Accordingly, the Home Rule Act does not preempt the Board of Commissioners’ ability to exercise its zoning power by adopting Section 8-20. Thus, the trial court erred by granting partial summary judgment to Town and Country and by denying partial summary judgment to the Board of Commissioners and the BZA on this issue.