Moulding Investments v. Box Elder County ( 2024 )


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    2024 UT App 23
    THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS
    MOULDING INVESTMENTS, LLC AND
    FRANKLIN HILL REGIONAL LANDFILL, LLC,
    Appellants,
    v.
    BOX ELDER COUNTY, JEFF HADFIELD,
    JEFF SCOTT, AND STAN SUMMERS,
    Appellees.
    Opinion
    No. 20220433-CA
    Filed February 23, 2024
    First District Court, Brigham City Department
    The Honorable Spencer D. Walsh
    No. 200100101
    Chris R. Hogle and Michelle Quist,
    Attorneys for Appellants
    Barton H. Kunz II, Attorney for Appellees
    JUDGE RYAN D. TENNEY authored this Opinion, in which
    JUDGES RYAN M. HARRIS and AMY J. OLIVER concurred.
    TENNEY, Judge:
    ¶1    Moulding Investments, LLC (Moulding 1) wants to operate
    a landfill on property that it owns in Box Elder County (the
    County). After the County denied Moulding’s request for a
    necessary zoning change, Moulding sued, alleging that the
    1. The case at issue was also brought on behalf of Franklin Hill
    Regional Landfill, LLC, the entity that would assume “ownership
    and control of the property” from Moulding “upon final approval
    of the landfill.” Moulding and Franklin have referred to
    themselves collectively as Moulding in their briefs, and we’ll do
    the same.
    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    County had violated Moulding’s equal protection rights by
    improperly favoring another proposed landfill within the County.
    The district court dismissed Moulding’s complaint for failure to
    state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Moulding now
    appeals. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
    BACKGROUND 2
    The Promontory Point Landfill
    ¶2      In 2003, some landowners petitioned the County for a
    conditional use permit to operate a commercial landfill that
    would be referred to as the Promontory Point Landfill (the PPL).
    The PPL would be located near the Promontory Point peninsula
    in the southernmost portion of the County and “within a half-mile
    from the Great Salt Lake.” The PPL would be accessible by rail,
    but it would otherwise be accessible only “by several miles of
    county road,” the last few miles of which were unpaved. When
    the Box Elder County Planning Commission (the Planning
    Commission) held a public meeting on the petition in June 2003,
    there was some opposition. After the Planning Commission
    discussed access, public safety, and environmental concerns with
    the owners, the Planning Commission recommended approving
    the petition. The petition then went to the Box Elder County
    Commission (the County Commission), which unanimously
    approved it. The proposed PPL was not subsequently put into
    operation, however, and this conditional use permit expired by
    2009.
    ¶3    Around the time that this conditional use permit expired,
    the County Commission adopted Ordinance 319. This ordinance
    2. “On appeal from a motion to dismiss, we review the facts only
    as they are alleged in the complaint. We accept the factual
    allegations as true and draw all reasonable inferences from those
    facts in a light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Lewis v. U.S. Bank
    Trust, 
    2020 UT App 55
    , n.1, 
    463 P.3d 694
     (quotation simplified).
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    required all landfills to be located in a newly created Municipal
    Solid Waste (MSW) zone. The PPL had a new owner by this point,
    and this owner applied to have the PPL property rezoned as an
    MSW zone. The Planning Commission discussed this application
    at a November 2009 meeting. The minutes from this meeting
    show that just a single comment was made about the MSW
    application, with a citizen asking “if re-zoning this property
    would have any effect on the land value of his property in the
    area.” The Planning Commission ultimately voted to recommend
    that the County Commission approve the rezoning request. When
    the matter was brought to the County Commission in January
    2010, another citizen expressed concern about the effects that the
    proposed zoning change (and, presumably, a landfill) would
    “have on private property.” At the close of the discussion, the
    County Commission voted to approve the PPL’s request for a
    zone change to a MSW zone. In September 2011, the PPL received
    a permit from the Utah Department of Environmental Quality
    (the DEQ) to operate a landfill. After receiving this permit,
    however, the PPL did not obtain another conditional use permit
    at that time, which was necessary to allow it to begin operating
    the landfill.
    Moulding’s Proposed Landfill
    ¶4    Moulding owns 2,200 acres of private property in the
    County, located approximately eight miles southeast of Snowville
    within the Hansel Valley. The property has been and still is
    unzoned. In April 2014, Moulding submitted an application to the
    County seeking to rezone 225 acres of its property as an MSW
    zone, with the intent to operate a landfill on it. That same day,
    Moulding also applied to the DEQ for a permit to operate the
    proposed landfill. At that time, the PPL was still not operating,
    and the County had only one operating landfill.
    ¶5    During a May 2014 meeting, the Planning Commission
    considered Moulding’s application for an MSW zoning change.
    During the public comment period, several people raised
    concerns about culinary water contamination, seismic activity,
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    flooding, local wildlife, the location of the landfill, and traffic to
    the site. At Moulding’s request, the Planning Commission tabled
    Moulding’s application so “that the concerns raised at the public
    hearing could be addressed by the appropriate agency within” the
    DEQ.
    The PPL Receives a Conditional Use Permit
    ¶6     In March 2015, the PPL and the County signed a letter of
    intent for the County to purchase the PPL. The letter laid out the
    general terms of a proposed purchase agreement, but it was not
    binding on either party. In August 2015, as part of ongoing
    negotiations, the County contemplated the possibility of instead
    entering into a profit share agreement by which the County would
    own 60% of the PPL and share in its profits. But after the county
    attorney expressed concerns about the proposal and the public
    mounted considerable opposition, the County decided not to go
    through with this purchase, leaving the PPL fully private.
    ¶7     In November 2015, the County Commission was
    comprised of Jeff Hadfield, Jeff Scott, and Stan Summers. Of some
    note for this appeal, these commissioners were not the same
    commissioners who had approved the PPL’s earlier zoning
    application. This new County Commission approved Ordinance
    414, which essentially overhauled the County’s MSW zoning
    ordinances. Among the changes was a reclassification of the MSW
    zone to a Solid Waste (SW) zone.
    ¶8    Due to an “oversight,” the PPL’s zone was not updated
    when Ordinance 414 was enacted, meaning that it was still zoned
    as the now-defunct MSW zone. The Planning Commission
    approved a rezoning of the PPL to a SW zone at a June 2016
    meeting, noting that the PPL was “overlooked when the other
    MSW zones in the county were re-zoned correctly.” The Planning
    Commission unanimously recommended approval of the
    proposed rezoning, and the County Commission approved it a
    month later.
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    ¶9     In March 2017, the Planning Commission approved a
    second conditional use permit (replacing the one that had expired
    in 2009) for the PPL to operate a landfill.
    Moulding’s Renewed Request for a Zone Change
    ¶10 In the fall of 2019, the DEQ issued a decision granting
    Moulding a Class I landfill permit. Despite public comments that
    raised concerns about potential environmental or wildlife
    impacts, DEQ officials concluded that none of these issues
    warranted denial of the request.
    ¶11 After Moulding’s DEQ permit was issued, the relevant
    County authorities again considered Moulding’s previously
    tabled 2014 application for a zone change. On August 20, 2020, the
    Planning Commission met to consider Moulding’s application. At
    that meeting, Planning Commission members discussed several
    potential reasons for denying the application, including the
    likelihood of flooding in the area, potential safety impacts on the
    groundwater, public opposition to the possibility of bringing
    other counties’ garbage into the County, and the fact that “the
    existing capacity of the landfill presently in Box Elder County . . .
    has a 100-year lifespan.” At the close of the discussion, the
    Planning Commission unanimously recommended denying
    Moulding’s application based on the following findings:
    public opposition, aquifer recharge area issue,
    elevation of the watershed being prone to flash
    flooding, it is a known seismic zone, adverse effect
    on neighboring properties, property values and
    future growth of the area . . . no existing need for an
    additional landfill in Box Elder County[, and] . . . the
    proposal is not harmonious with the general plan
    and presentation of Box Elder County.
    The motion recommending denial passed unanimously.
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    ¶12 On September 2, 2020, the County Commission met and
    reviewed the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny
    Moulding’s application for a zone change. At that meeting, a
    commissioner stated that “the Planning Commission doesn’t take
    anything lightly and they do their due diligence when making
    decisions.” Another commissioner noted that he “was at the
    public hearing and saw the public outcry against” Moulding’s
    proposed landfill and that he thought there were “legitimate
    concerns” with the application. And another commissioner
    pointed out that even if concerns with the application were
    “mitigated,” there was “still overwhelming opposition[] to
    [Moulding’s] landfill.”
    ¶13 At the close of the discussion, a commissioner made a
    motion to deny Moulding’s application based on the following
    findings:
    Public opposition; Located in an aquifer recharge
    area; Location is prone to flash flooding; Location is
    in an area prone to seismic activity; Adverse effects
    on neighboring properties (value, litter, smell,
    traffic); Not a need (especially when considering
    existing capacity in the county, the adverse impacts,
    and public opposition); [and] Adverse impact
    (visual, litter) on the I-84 corridor, a corridor
    frequently used by travelers in the western U.S.
    This motion passed unanimously.
    Procedural History
    ¶14 In October 2020, Moulding sued the County as well as
    Commissioners Jeff Hadfield, Jeff Scott, and Stan Summers. 3 In an
    3. Throughout the litigation (including in this appeal), the County
    and these individual commissioners have been represented and
    have proceeded together. Going forward, we’ll refer to them
    (continued…)
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    amended complaint that ultimately governed the case (and
    which, for simplicity, we’ll refer to as “the complaint” moving
    forward), Moulding alleged that the County had violated its equal
    protection rights under both the Utah and the United States
    Constitutions. The complaint alleged that the County had
    violated Moulding’s rights “under [the] color of state law” by
    treating Moulding “differently from others similarly situated”—
    namely, the PPL—and that the County had “done so with ill will
    and without any rational or legitimate basis.”
    ¶15 The complaint identified some similarities between the
    proposed Moulding landfill and the PPL, such as that “both
    landfills [are] located within Box Elder County, both landfills
    were publicly opposed on similar concerns, and both landfills are
    not situated within a landfill corridor as required by” ordinance.
    The complaint also acknowledged the differing chronologies and
    approval histories of the two projects, noting that the PPL had first
    sought “a conditional use permit . . . to operate . . . as a commercial
    landfill” in 2003 and then detailing the history of the zoning
    approvals that the PPL had obtained through 2016. When
    recounting that history, the complaint referred to and quoted
    from a series of minutes from Planning Commission and County
    Commission meetings spanning from 2003 to 2020, and many of
    those minutes were attached as exhibits to the complaint.
    ¶16 The County filed a motion to dismiss the complaint under
    rule 12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. In this motion,
    the County argued that Moulding had not adequately alleged
    “totally illegitimate animus unrelated to the County
    Commissioners’ positions” and that the PPL did not qualify as a
    similarly situated comparator as required to support an equal
    protection claim. As exhibits to its motion, the County attached
    minutes from several County Commission and Planning
    collectively as “the County” unless the distinction is relevant to a
    particular point.
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    Commission meetings, as well as copies of relevant County
    ordinances.
    ¶17 After a hearing, the district court issued a written decision
    granting the County’s motion to dismiss. The court concluded
    that Moulding had “failed to identify a comparator that is
    similarly situated in all material respects,” and it also concluded
    that Moulding had failed “to establish that the County acted out
    of a totally illegitimate animus unrelated to their official duties in
    denying [Moulding’s] application.”
    ¶18 With respect to the “similarly situated” element of this
    claim, the court concluded that the PPL was not a similarly
    situated comparator for several reasons. First, “a decade passed
    between the time the County Commission considered [the PPL’s]
    application and Moulding’s application.” Second, the “County
    Commissioners making the decision were different.” Third, when
    the owners of the PPL applied, there was only one other “landfill
    operating in the unincorporated County,” whereas when
    Moulding applied, the PPL had already been approved, which the
    court viewed as a “material distinction.” Finally, the court
    referred to the “vastly different public responses” to the two
    applications.
    ¶19 With respect to the animus element, the court further
    found that “Moulding relie[d] on conclusory allegations” and
    failed to “marshal[] specific facts that show that the County
    Commissioners were motivated by the required animus.” And the
    court also was not persuaded that “Moulding’s allegation that the
    County was motivated by a financial stake in the [PPL]” would be
    enough to establish that the County acted based on animus
    toward Moulding.
    ¶20 Based on these conclusions, the district court dismissed
    Moulding’s complaint. Moulding timely appealed.
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW
    ¶21 Moulding appeals the district court’s dismissal of its
    complaint, challenging the court’s conclusions relating to both the
    “similarly situated” and “animus” elements of the equal
    protection claim. “Because a trial court’s grant or denial of a
    motion to dismiss is a question of law, the standard of review is
    correctness.” South Jordan City v. Summerhays, 
    2017 UT App 18
    ,
    ¶ 5, 
    392 P.3d 855
     (quotation simplified). This standard of review
    grants “no deference to the decision of the district court.” Hudgens
    v. Prosper, Inc., 
    2010 UT 68
    , ¶ 14, 
    243 P.3d 1275
    ; see also Helf v.
    Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 
    2009 UT 11
    , ¶ 14, 
    203 P.3d 962
    .
    ANALYSIS
    ¶22 The district court dismissed Moulding’s complaint under
    rule 12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. A rule 12(b)(6)
    motion “should be granted only if, assuming the truth of the
    allegations in the complaint and drawing all reasonable inferences
    therefrom in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, it is clear that
    the plaintiff is not entitled to relief.” Hudgens v. Prosper, Inc., 
    2010 UT 68
    , ¶ 14, 
    243 P.3d 1275
     (quotation simplified). When reviewing
    a motion to dismiss, “neither the district court nor this court is
    required to review voluminous extraneous materials in an effort
    to address deficiencies in the complaint and identify facts that
    support a plaintiff’s legal theories. Instead, the factual allegations
    made in the complaint must be the focus of the inquiry.” Rusk v.
    University of Utah Healthcare Risk Mgmt., 
    2016 UT App 243
    , ¶ 7, 
    391 P.3d 325
     (per curiam) (quotation simplified).
    ¶23 Moulding’s complaint alleged an equal protection
    violation under both the Utah and United States Constitutions.
    “Equal protection of the law requires that similarly situated
    persons be treated alike.” Brian High Dev., LC v. Brian Head Town,
    
    2015 UT App 100
    , ¶ 9, 
    348 P.3d 1209
     (quotation simplified).
    “When persons are similarly situated, it is unconstitutional to
    single out one person or group of persons from among a larger
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    class on the basis of a tenuous justification that has little or no
    merit.” Salt Lake City Corp. v. Haik, 
    2019 UT App 4
    , ¶ 72, 
    438 P.3d 913
     (quotation simplified). 4
    ¶24 On appeal, Moulding suggests that its equal protection
    claim is a class-of-one claim. A class-of-one claim exists when a
    plaintiff brings an equal protection claim without alleging
    membership in a class or group. Village of Willowbrook v. Olech, 
    528 U.S. 562
    , 564 (2000). A plaintiff properly pleads a class-of-one
    claim “where the plaintiff alleges that [it] has been intentionally
    treated differently from others similarly situated and that there is
    no rational basis for the difference in treatment.” Id.; see also
    Patterson v. American Fork City, 
    2003 UT 7
    , ¶ 33, 
    67 P.3d 466
    ; Haik,
    
    2019 UT App 4
    , ¶ 73. “It is insufficient to allege an uneven
    enforcement of the law; what is required is a showing of a totally
    illegitimate animus toward the plaintiff by the defendant.” Haik,
    
    2019 UT App 4
    , ¶ 73 (quotation simplified).
    ¶25 As an initial matter, Moulding argues that because the
    district court was considering a rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss,
    certain portions of its ruling were erroneous because the court
    improperly relied on facts outside the complaint. “The rules are
    clear that documents attached to a complaint are incorporated
    into the pleadings for purposes of judicial notice and are fair game
    4. Our supreme court has held that the Utah Constitution’s
    “uniform operation of laws provision” and the United States
    Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause “embody the same general
    principle: persons similarly situated should be treated similarly,
    and persons in different circumstances should not be treated as if
    their circumstances were the same.” ABCO Enters. v. Utah State
    Tax Comm’n, 
    2009 UT 36
    , ¶ 14, 
    211 P.3d 382
     (quotation simplified).
    The ruling below did not meaningfully differentiate between the
    state and federal constitutions, and the parties on appeal likewise
    have not suggested that there’s a difference that would matter to
    this case either. Given the decision and briefing, we have no need
    to decide whether there might be such a distinction that might
    matter in some future case.
    20220433-CA                    10                
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    for this court to consider in addition to the complaint’s
    averments.” Oakwood Vill. LLC v. Albertsons, Inc., 
    2004 UT 101
    ,
    ¶ 10, 
    104 P.3d 1226
    . In the rule 12(b)(6) context, courts are also
    “permitted to consider documents referred to in the complaint or
    that are central to the complaint, as well as certain types of public
    records.” Calsert v. Estate of Flores, 
    2020 UT App 102
    , ¶ 12 n.4, 
    470 P.3d 464
     (quotation simplified). In the County’s view, the various
    documents identified by Moulding fit within this rule and do not
    require the motion to dismiss to be treated “as one for summary
    judgment.” See Utah R. Civ. P. 12(b). We need not resolve the
    parties’ disputes about which documents were or were not
    appropriately considered. For purpose of this appeal, we’ll
    confine our consideration to the complaint itself and the
    documents Moulding directly referenced therein. 5
    ¶26 Against that backdrop, Moulding argues that the district
    court erred in three respects: first, by affording too much
    deference to the County’s decision in violation of Utah’s liberal
    pleading standard; second, by concluding that Moulding had not
    alleged sufficient facts to show an illegitimate animus; and third,
    by concluding that Moulding had not alleged sufficient facts to
    show that there was a similarly situated comparator. We agree
    with the district court that Moulding did not allege sufficient facts
    to establish that there was a similarly situated comparator. As a
    result, we need not reach the other arguments, and we offer no
    opinion as to their merit.
    ¶27 As noted, this element of a class-of-one equal protection
    claim turns on whether the government treated the plaintiff
    5. Of note, the complaint specifically referred to Planning
    Commission meetings that occurred in June 2003, May 2014, June
    2016, and August 2020, as well as County Commission meetings
    that occurred in July 2003, January 2010, August 2015, July 2016,
    and September 2020. The complaint also included as exhibits the
    minutes of the May 2014 Planning Commission meetings, the
    August 2015 County Commission meeting, and the September
    2020 County Commission meeting.
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    “differently from other similarly situated persons.” Patterson, 
    2003 UT 7
    , ¶ 34. We’ve held that to support this element, the plaintiff
    “must identify comparators that are similarly situated in all
    material respects, which is a substantial burden” in the land use
    context “because each property has unique characteristics.” Farley
    v. Utah County, 
    2019 UT App 45
    , ¶ 31, 
    440 P.3d 856
     (emphasis
    added, quotation otherwise simplified). While Utah’s caselaw is
    otherwise somewhat sparse with respect to this element, the First
    Circuit has persuasively held that “plaintiffs must show an
    extremely high degree of similarity between themselves and the
    persons to whom they compare themselves.” Cordi-Allen v.
    Conlon, 
    494 F.3d 245
    , 251 (1st Cir. 2007) (quotation simplified). In
    the First Circuit’s view, the “proponent of the equal protection
    violation must show that the parties with whom he seeks to be
    compared have engaged in the same activity vis-à-vis the
    government entity without such distinguishing or mitigating
    circumstances as would render the comparison inutile.” 
    Id.
     In
    language similar to that which we used in Farley, the First Circuit
    explained that the “similarly situated requirement must be
    enforced with particular rigor in the land-use context because
    zoning decisions will often, perhaps almost always, treat one
    landowner differently from another.” 
    Id.
     (quotation simplified).
    ¶28 The Tenth Circuit has expressed a similar view. In Kansas
    Penn Gaming, LLC v. Collins (a case that we cited favorably in
    Farley, 
    2019 UT App 45
    , ¶ 31), the Tenth Circuit held that the
    “similarly situated” requirement “is inevitably more demanding
    where a difference in treatment could legitimately be based on a
    number of different factors.” 
    656 F.3d 1210
    , 1218 (10th Cir. 2011).
    The Tenth Circuit explained that this requirement prevents “a
    flood of claims in that area of government action where discretion
    is high and variation is common.” 
    Id.
    ¶29 In this case, Moulding’s complaint alleged that its
    proposed landfill was “similarly situated with [the PPL] in that
    both are landfills located within Box Elder County, both landfills
    were publicly opposed based on similar concerns, and both
    landfills are not situated within a landfill corridor as required by”
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    a County ordinance. But even with these alleged similarities, there
    were still several key differences.
    ¶30 The principal difference was timing. The owners of the PPL
    first applied for a conditional use permit in 2003, and they
    received it that year. Although that conditional use permit later
    expired, the owners maintained the PPL’s ability to eventually
    function as a landfill by seeking and obtaining necessary zoning
    changes in 2010 and again in 2016. By contrast, Moulding did not
    submit any landfill-related applications until the request for a
    zone change in 2014; after that request was tabled, it wasn’t
    renewed for consideration again until 2020. Thus, while Moulding
    claims that it is similarly situated to the PPL, the timing alone
    shows otherwise. The owners of the PPL had obtained a
    conditional use permit over a decade before Moulding even
    applied for a zoning change, and the PPL owners had also
    obtained zoning changes a decade before the County denied
    Moulding’s zoning request, which is the government action that
    ultimately led to Moulding’s suit. 6
    ¶31 As a related matter, different decision makers have been
    involved in making some of the relevant decisions. The PPL
    received a conditional use permit in 2003 and a zoning change in
    2010, and those approvals were issued by prior versions of the
    County Commission (and comprised of entirely different
    commissioners) than the County Commission that denied
    Moulding’s request for a zoning change in 2020. Thus, while
    Moulding is now suing Commissioners Hadfield, Scott, and
    6. As we noted in the Background, the record indicates that the
    PPL received a second conditional use permit in 2017. But as
    discussed, for purposes of our Analysis, we’re confining
    ourselves to the allegations set forth in the complaint, and the
    complaint itself does not allege that the PPL received this second
    conditional use permit. The complaint does allege, however, that
    the PPL received both an initial conditional use permit in 2003 as
    well as zoning approvals in 2010 and 2016—which, as discussed,
    place the PPL on different ground than Moulding.
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    Summers for treating Moulding differently than the PPL has been
    treated, the earlier decisions to grant the PPL’s initial requests
    were made by different elected officials who may well have had
    entirely different political agendas.
    ¶32 Finally (and again relatedly), the PPL stands on different
    footing from Moulding because the PPL came first. Like the
    district court, we think it significant that the governmental
    decisions in question turned on whether to approve a proposed
    landfill. A local government could of course rationally decide that
    it should only have a certain number of landfills within its
    borders, and Moulding does not contend that the County here
    was constitutionally required to approve every such proposal.
    Indeed, as noted, one of the findings that the County Commission
    made in support of its denial of Moulding’s zoning application
    was: “Not a need (especially when considering existing capacity
    in the county . . . ).”
    ¶33 To be clear, the question of whether the County’s decision
    to draw the line at two landfills was so irrational that it could
    support an equal protection claim turns on a different element
    than the one we’re considering, which is whether the two
    proposed comparators were similarly situated. But even on that
    element, it still matters that the PPL had already been approved for
    a conditional use permit and for the necessary zoning change
    before Moulding had applied for a zoning change, much less
    before the County denied Moulding’s request. In this sense, these
    were not two competitors who were contemporaneously vying
    for a single available permit. Rather, in the moments that form the
    basis for Moulding’s suit (i.e., the County’s consideration and
    denial of Moulding’s request for a zoning change in 2020), the PPL
    already had the approvals that Moulding was now requesting.
    Simply put, an applicant who has already obtained an approval
    to conduct an activity is not similarly situated to an entity who
    begins seeking its own approval later. So here, when Moulding
    sought the necessary governmental approvals, it was doing so in
    a climate in which the PPL already had them; but when the PPL
    sought those approvals, the converse was not true. In this sense,
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    Moulding Inv. v. Box Elder County
    the PPL and Moulding applications were submitted to different
    County officials in different climates with respect to the number
    of approved landfills within the County’s borders.
    ¶34 In the briefing, the County argued that there are other
    potential differences as well, such as differences of location and
    topography. Perhaps most notably, the County has also alleged
    that there were different levels of public opposition to the two
    proposals. But these arguments rely to some measure on
    documents and exhibits that at least arguably fall outside the
    scope of a proper analysis under rule 12(b)(6). In any event, we
    need not decide whether these additional differences also support
    the district court’s ruling. Instead, we think those identified above
    are enough—namely, these proposals were filed at different
    times, they were considered (in part) by different sets of
    commissioners, and the PPL’s initial application had been
    approved before Moulding ever submitted a proposal. In light of
    these differences, all of which are apparent on the face of the
    complaint alone, we agree with the district court that the PPL and
    Moulding were not similarly situated for purposes of a class-of-
    one claim. As a result, Moulding’s complaint fails.
    CONCLUSION
    ¶35 For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s
    dismissal of Moulding’s complaint.
    20220433-CA                     15               
    2024 UT App 23
                                

Document Info

Docket Number: 20220433-CA

Filed Date: 2/23/2024

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 3/11/2024