Flight Shop, Inc. v. Leading Edge Aviation, Inc.

Under ORS 197.825, the Land Use Board of Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction over land use decisions despite the circuit court’s jurisdiction over enforcement actions.

Flight Shop appealed a judgment from the trial court that dismissed its two claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Flight Shop argued that Leading Edge Aviation violated the county code by (1) continuing to operate its refueling station after the Land Use Board of Appeals remanded the approval of Leading Edge Aviation’s site plans, and by (2) constructing a canopy without first seeking sit plan approval for that structure. Leading Edge Aviation argued that Flight Shop’s first claim was still in the land use process and so the Land Use Board of Appeals still had exclusive jurisdiction to review challenges to that process. Leading Edge Aviation also argued that the second claim was itself a land use decision. The Court relied on ORS 197.825 to determine that the Land Use Board of Appeal’s jurisdiction over the review of land use decisions is exclusive over the trial court’s jurisdiction over enforcement actions. ORS 197.825(1). The Court held that the trial court lacked jurisdiction because the first claim involved an issue that was subject to an ongoing land use decisional process and the second claim should be appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals because it was the appropriate forum to review the land use issue. Affirmed.