Sunset Cliff Homeowners Ass'n v. Water Resources Board

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court held that a superior court lacked jurisdiction to review, through a declaratory-judgment action under 3 V.S.A. § 807, the Water Resources Board’s fact-bound decision declining to reclassify wetlands. Section 807 provides a procedural avenue to challenge the applicability or validity of rules, but does not authorize de novo or appellate review of an agency’s application of wetland rules to a particular parcel. The court vacated the superior court’s order allowing on-the-record review and remanded with instructions to dismiss the action.

Holdings

1. Section 807 does not empower the superior court to review the Water Resources Board's application of the wetland rules to particular parcels of land in the manner of an appellate tribunal. A declaratory-judgment action may challenge the applicability or validity of rules, but it may not be used to obtain de novo or on-the-record reconsideration and reversal of the Board's fact-bound, policy-driven reclassification decision.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 3 V.S.A. § 807 authorizes a superior court to conduct de novo or on-the-record review of the Water Resources Board's fact-bound decision denying a petition to reclassify particular wetlands.
2. Whether the declaratory-judgment action should have been dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because it sought appellate review and reversal of the Board's application of the wetland rules to a particular parcel rather than a declaration concerning the rules' validity or applicability.

Disposition

vacated