{"data":{"id":"us-ut/utah-code-17-79-1001","jurisdiction":"us-ut","citation":"Utah Code § 17-79-1001","heading":"Appeal authority required -- Condition precedent to judicial review -- Appeal authority duties.","body":"(1)\n(a) Subject to Subsection (1)(d), each county adopting a land use ordinance shall, by ordinance, establish one or more appeal authorities.\n(b) An appeal authority shall hear and decide:\n(i) requests for a variance from a land use ordinance;\n(ii) appeals from a land use decision applying a land use ordinance; and\n(iii) appeals from a fee charged in accordance with Section 17-79-802.\n(c) An appeal authority may not hear an appeal from the enactment of a land use regulation.\n(d) Beginning on July 1, 2026, a county described in Subsection 17-79-302(5)(a)(i) may not designate the county's legislative body as an appeal authority.\n(e) Notwithstanding Subsection (1)(d), a legislative body shall continue to be the appeal authority for an appeal if:\n(i) a land use ordinance designated the legislative body as the appeal authority when the appellant filed the appeal: and\n(ii) the appellant filed the appeal on or before June 30, 2026.\n(2) As a condition precedent to judicial review, each adversely affected party or land use applicant shall timely and specifically challenge a land use authority's land use decision, in accordance with local ordinance.\n(3) An appeal authority described in Subsection (1)(a):\n(a) shall:\n(i) act in a quasi-judicial manner; and\n(ii) serve as the final arbiter of issues involving the interpretation or application of a land use ordinance; and\n(b) 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.\n(4) By ordinance, a county may:\n(a) designate a separate appeal authority to hear requests for variances than the appeal authority the county designates to hear appeals;\n(b) designate one or more separate appeal authorities to hear distinct types of appeals of land use authority decisions;\n(c) require an adversely affected party to present to an appeal authority every theory of relief that the adversely affected party can raise in district court; and\n(d) provide that specified types of land use decisions may be appealed directly to the district court.\n(5) A county may not:\n(a) require a public hearing for a request for a variance or land use appeal; or\n(b) require a land use applicant or adversely affected party to pursue successive appeals before the same or separate appeal authorities as a condition of an appealing party's duty to exhaust administrative remedies.\n(6) If the county establishes or, before May 2, 2005, has established a multiperson board, body, or panel to act as an appeal authority, at a minimum the board, body, or panel shall:\n(a) notify each of the members of the board, body, or panel of any meeting or hearing of the board, body, or panel;\n(b) provide each of the members of the board, body, or panel with the same information and access to municipal resources as any other member;\n(c) convene only if a quorum of the members of the board, body, or panel is present; and\n(d) act only upon the vote of a majority of the convened members of the board, body, or panel.","path":["Title 17 Counties","Chapter 17-79 County Land Use, Development, and Management Act","Part 17-79-10 Appeal Authority, Variances, and District Court Review"],"source_url":"https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title17/Chapter79/17-79-S1001.html","current_through":"2026 General Session","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-03T11:34:33Z","sha256":"7a46cd893e9f16a3afb308566c43ca8fd93888e8fc8e3548515b242c789b60c6","source_id":"us-ut","stale":false,"prev":"us-ut/utah-code-17-79-903","next":"us-ut/utah-code-17-79-1002"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}