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State ex rel City of Powers v. Coos County Airport Dist.8/17/2005
assessment is an adjudicative function, Boyle v. City of Bend, 234 Or 91, 101, 380 P2d 625 (1963), so is the determination that land could or could not be benefitted by the formation of an airport district. Similarly, the application of statewide land use planning goals, which may be required by ORS 198.805(1)'s cross-reference to ORS 199.462, "is also an indication that action is adjudicative." 1000 Friends of Oregon v. Wasco Co. Court, 80 Or App 532, 536, 723 P2d 1034 (1986), rev'd on other grounds, 305 Or 76, 742 P2d 39 (1987), cert den, 486 US 1007 (1988).
With regard to the final Strawberry Hill 4 Wheelers factor--whether the decision is directed at a closely circumscribed factual situation or a relatively small number of people--an airport district that encompasses all of Coos County does not affect a relatively small number of people. Nonetheless, " he number of people affected and the size of the area covered are less important considerations." 1000 Friends of Oregon, 80 Or App at 536. In light of the fact that the statute required the county to reach a decision based on the application of predetermined criteria to the concrete facts of the situation, the mere fact that the county exercised its district formation power to the full extent of its authority does not render its decision more legislative than quasi-judicial. Mindful of the purposes of the Strawberry Hill 4 Wheelers criteria, we conclude that the formation of the airport district was quasi-judicial.
That conclusion necessarily means that the trial court lacked jurisdiction of plaintiffs' declaratory judgment claim because the writ of review was plaintiffs' exclusive judicial mechanism to address the formation of the district. See Pangle, 169 Or App at 384-85. Plaintiffs advance three additional arguments that, if correct, would avoid that result. First, plaintiffs insist that, because a writ of review may be sought only by "any party to any process or proceeding before or by any inferior court, officer, or tribunal," ORS 34.020, and because none of them was a party to or participated in the formation hearings, a writ of review was not available to them and they may therefore seek a declaratory judgment. The case that plaintiffs cite to support their argument, Heritage Square Dev. v. City of Sandy, 58 Or App 485, 648 P2d 1317, rev den, 293 Or 653 (1982), is inapposite. In Heritage Square, we held that a city lacked jurisdiction to form a local improvement district because it had not given the necessary notice to certain property owners. Nothing in that opinion addressed the ability of those property owners to challenge the formation of the district by writ of review.
Strawberry Hill 4 Wheelers provides the test to determine who may seek a writ of review:
" plaintiff seeking relief against a 'transaction of county business' must show (1) that he suffered an identifiable injury to an interest of some substance, and (2) either that he participated in some form in the proceeding before the county court or that he was entitled to participate but failed to do so for lack of proper notice or other reasons beyond his control."
287 Or at 611. Further, ORS 198.735 provides:
"(1) On or before the date set for a hearing on a petition, any person interested in the proposed formation or change of organization of the district may appear and present written statements for or against the granting of the petition or the proposed change.
"(2) A written statement for or against a proposed formation or change of organization or a request for an election must be in writing, must clearly specify the defect, error, irregularity or omission to which objection, if any, is made and
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