1. To provide for appeals of decisions of Land use Authorities and to comply with the Act, the following Appeal Authorities, with their appeal responsibilities are identified. Persons aggrieved by decisions of a Land use Authority may file petitions or appeal applications accordingly.
   1. District Court. The District Court shall act as the Appeal Authority for any decision of the City Council or the Land Use Hearing Officer. As a condition precedent to judicial review, each adversely affected person shall timely and specifically challenge a Land Use Authority's decision, in accordance with the requirements of this Chapter.
   2. City Council. The City Council shall act as the Appeal Authority and Appeal Panel for any decision of the Planning Commission or Technical Review Committee respectively, when they are acting as the final approving authority for an application. The City Council and an appellant may agree to allow a third party to act as the appeal authority in a matter that would otherwise come before the City Council. In such matters, the agreed upon third-party may act as the appeal authority subject to all requirements and standards of this Ordinance.
   3. Land Use Hearing Officer. The Land Use Hearing Officer shall act as the Appeal Authority for any decision of the Zoning Administrator or City Recorder.
2. Appeal Authorities shall act in a quasi-judicial manner. They serve as the final arbiter of issues involving the interpretation or application of Land Use Ordinances, including this Ordinance; and may not entertain an appeal of a matter in which the Appeal Authority, or any participating member, had first acted as the Land Use Authority.

A person, including the Applicant for any Land Use Application required by this Ordinance and any decision-making body or officer of the City, adversely affected by a decision of a Land Use Authority administering or interpreting this Ordinance may, within ten (10) calendar days of the date of the decision, appeal the decision to the Appeal Authority identified by this Chapter.

1. Only those decisions where a Land Use Authority has applied the requirements of this Ordinance to a particular application, person, lot or parcel may be appealed to an Appeal Authority.
2. An appeal of any order, requirement, decision, or determination of a Land Use Authority shall be made on the Appeal Application, provided by the City.
3. Appellants shall specify which land use authority decision is being appealed and identify the alleged error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by the Land Use Authority.
4. Appellants shall include with their appeal request every theory of relief that it can raise in District Court.

Any person presenting an appeal application alleging an error of a land use authority's order, requirement, decision, or determination has the burden of proof that the land use authority erred.

1. An Appeal Authority shall conduct each appeal as provided.
2. An Appeal Authority shall respect the due process rights of each of the participants.
3. Appeal review procedures shall be as follows:
   1. Upon submission of an appeal application to the City Recorder, the Zoning Administrator shall notify the respective Appeal Authority of the application and schedule a meeting or hearing;
   2. The Zoning Administrator, City Recorder, and City Attorney shall transmit to the Appeal Authority all materials constituting the full record of the decision of the Land Use Authority. All members Appeal Authority shall receive the same information and access to City resources as any other member;
   3. The Appeal Authority shall convene their meeting in accordance with Utah Open Public Meeting standards and only if a quorum of its members is present;
   4. The Appeal Authority shall hear and review all Appeal Applications “on the record,” including the review of all factual matters. Each Appeal Authority shall only consider the materials presented originally before the Land Use Authority in making the decision that is the subject of the appeal.
   5. Final decisions of the Appeal Authority shall be in accordance with Section 1307 and made by a majority vote of the present quorum members.
   6. After a vote of the Appeal Authority, the Appeal Authority shall prepare a written decision, which shall be delivered to the Zoning Administrator within ten (10) business days. The City Recorder shall provide the Appellant with a copy of the written decision.
   7. A record of the decisions of the Appeal Authority shall be maintained in the office of the City Recorder, which shall constitute the record of the appeal.

1. The Appeal Authority shall
   1. determine the correctness of the Land Use Authority’s interpretation and application of the plain meaning of the land use regulations; and
   2. interpret and apply a land use regulation to favor a land use application unless the land use regulation plainly restricts the land use application.
2. An Appeal Authority may not use an appeal process to waive, modify, or amend any requirement, provision, or term of this Ordinance. Persons seeking to obtain a variance must follow the city variance procedures as found in Chapter 10 of this ordinance. When evaluating irregularities in procedures an Appeal Authority shall follow standards under Section 410 of the Zoning Ordinance.
3. An Appeal Authority shall not require an adversely affected party to pursue duplicate or successive appeals before it or another Appeal Authority as a condition of the adversely affected party's duty to exhaust administrative remedies.
4. A decision of each Appeal Authority shall take effect on the date when the Appeal Authority, as applicable, issues a written decision, which shall constitute a final decision by the City in the matter.

1. Required Time for Filing.
   
   1. No person may challenge in District Court a decision of a Land Use Authority until that person has exhausted all administrative remedies as provided by this Chapter and received a final decision from an Appeal Authority.
      
   2. Any person adversely affected by a final order, requirement, decision, or determination made in the exercise of or in violation of the provisions of this Ordinance may file a petition for review of the order, requirement, decision, or determination with the District Court within thirty (30) calendar days after the Appeal Authority’s decision is final.
      
2. Tolling of Time.
   
   1. The required time for filing for District Court review shall be tolled from the date the person files a request for arbitration of a constitutional taking issue with the property rights ombudsman, as provided by §63-34-13 U.C.A., until thirty (30) days after:
      
      1. The arbitrator issues a final award; or
         
      2. The property rights ombudsman issues a written statement under §63-34-13(4)(b) U.C.A., declining to arbitrate or to appoint an arbitrator.
         
   2. A tolling under this Section operates only as to the specific constitutional taking issue that is the subject of the request for arbitration filed with the property rights ombudsman by a property owner.
      
   3. A request for arbitration filed with the property rights ombudsman after the time under Subsection (2)(a) to file a petition has expired does not affect the time to file a petition.
      
3. Standards Governing Court Review.
   
   1. The Court shall:
      
      1. Presume that a final decision made under the authority of the Act is valid; and
         
      2. Determine only whether or not the final decision is arbitrary, capricious, or illegal.
         
   2. A decision, ordinance, or regulation involving the exercise of legislative discretion is valid if the decision, ordinance, or regulation is reasonably debatable and not illegal.
      
   3. A decision of a Land Use Authority or an Appeal Authority involving the exercise of administrative discretion is valid if the decision is supported by substantial evidence in the record and is not arbitrary, capricious, or illegal.
      
   4. A determination of illegality requires a determination that the decision, ordinance, or regulation violates a law, statute, or ordinance in effect at the time the decision was made or the ordinance or regulation adopted.
      
   5. The time requirements for the filing of a petition with District Court, as provided by this Section apply from the date on which the Land Use Authority takes final action on a Land Use Application for any adversely affected third party, if the Land Use Authority conformed with the notice provisions of this Ordinance, as applicable, or for any person who had actual notice of the pending decision.
      
   6. If the City has complied with the notice requirements, as provided by this Ordinance, a challenge to the enactment of this Ordinance or the enactment of the Gunnison City General Plan may not be filed with the District Court more than thirty (30) calendar days after the enactment.
      
   7. A petition is barred unless it is filed within thirty (30) calendar days after the Appeal Authority's decision is final.
      
4. Record on Review.
   
   1. The Land Use Authority or Appeal Authority, as the case may be, shall transmit to District Court the record of its proceedings, including all minutes, findings, orders, and, if available, a true and correct transcript of its proceedings.
      
   2. If the proceeding was tape-recorded, a transcript of that tape recording is a true and correct transcript for purposes of this Section.
      
   3. If there is a record, the District Court's review is limited to the record provided by the Land Use Authority or Appeal Authority, as the case may be.
      
   4. The District Court may not accept or consider any evidence outside the record of the Land Use Authority or Appeal Authority, as the case may be, unless that evidence was offered to the Land Use Authority or Appeal Authority, respectively, and the court determines that it was improperly excluded.
      
   5. If there is no record, the Court may call witnesses and take evidence.
      
   6. The filing of an Appeal does not stay the decision of the Land Use Authority or Appeal Authority, as the case may be.
      
5. Staying of Decision.
   
   1. Before filing a petition under this Section, or a request for mediation or arbitration of a constitutional taking issue under §63-34-13 U.C.A., the aggrieved party may petition the Appeal Authority to stay its decision.
      
   2. Upon receipt of a petition to stay, the Appeal Authority may order its decision stayed pending District Court review, if the Appeal Authority finds it to be in the best interest of the City.
      
   3. After a petition is filed under this Section, or a request for mediation or arbitration of a constitutional taking issue is filed under §63-34-13 U.C.A., the petitioner may seek an injunction staying the Appeal Authority's decision.