Turtle Talk

Here is the opinion in Zuni Indian Tribe v. McKinley Co. Bd. of Co. Comm’rs.

An excerpt:

The New Mexico Subdivision Act (the Act), NMSA 1978, §§ 47-6-1 to -29 (1973, as amended through 2009), governs the subdivision review and approval process by counties. The appeals provision of the Act, Section 47-6-15(B), provides that a party adversely affected “by a decision of the board of county commissioners may appeal to the district court pursuant to the provisions of [NMSA 1978, §] 39-3-1.1 [(1999)]”—the statute governing administrative appeals. In this case, we address whether a county’s approval or disapproval of a preliminary subdivision plat application constitutes a final, appealable decision for purposes of Section 47-6-15(B) of the Act. We also decide whether a timely filed appeal from a decision on a preliminary plat application is rendered moot simply because the county proceeded to approve the final plat application during the pendency of the appeal.