In Smith Communications,
LLC v. Washington County, Arkansas (8th Circuit, May 12, 2015), the Court held that a locality
may rely on detailed meeting minutes to provide its written reasons for denial so
long as the locality's reasons are stated clearly enough to enable judicial
review, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in T-Mobile S., LLC v.
City of Roswell, Ga., 135 S. Ct. 808, 816 (2015).
As stated by the
Court, we “do note, however, that at the time the Quorum Court denied Smith's application,
only the minutes from the June 4, 2013 meeting had been made available. The
minutes from the June 24, 2013 meeting were not made available until July 22, 2013.
The Supreme Court has made clear that, as a general matter, a "locality
must provide or make available its written reasons at essentially the same time
as it communicates its denial." Id. Thus, because Washington County did
not make the June 24, 2013 minutes available until 24 days after it notified
Smith in writing of its denial, it failed to provide the minutes within the
requisite time frame. See id. at 818 (holding that a city failed to
"provide its written reasons essentially contemporaneously with its
written denial" because it issued the minutes at issue "26 days after
the date of the written denial")."
"Washington County's failure to make the June 24, 2013 meeting minutes available earlier, however, did not require the district court to grant Smith immediate relief by ordering the issuance of a CUP. Washington County's reference to the June 4, 2013 meeting minutes—which, again, were already available at the time of the written denial—informed Smith of the reasons for the Quorum Court's denial." . . .
"Put simply, in light of these facts and the record before us, Smith received adequate notice of the reasons for the Quorum Court's denial. Furthermore, assuming arguendo that Washington County's failure to promptly make the latter meeting minutes available somehow violated the Act, the violation was, at most, a harmless error."
"Washington County's failure to make the June 24, 2013 meeting minutes available earlier, however, did not require the district court to grant Smith immediate relief by ordering the issuance of a CUP. Washington County's reference to the June 4, 2013 meeting minutes—which, again, were already available at the time of the written denial—informed Smith of the reasons for the Quorum Court's denial." . . .
"Put simply, in light of these facts and the record before us, Smith received adequate notice of the reasons for the Quorum Court's denial. Furthermore, assuming arguendo that Washington County's failure to promptly make the latter meeting minutes available somehow violated the Act, the violation was, at most, a harmless error."