Coastal Marshlands Protection Comm. v. Altamaha Riverkeeper Inc.

Appellants Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee “Committee”, First Southern National Bank, Montgomery Bank and Trust, Citizens Bank of Swainsboro, and Bank of Soperton appeal from the superior court’s order vacating an administrative law judge’s decision to affirm the Committee’s decision to issue a permit for a moveable floating dock over a marshland. In their sole enumeration of error, the appellants contend the superior court applied the wrong standard of review to the ALJ’s decision. Specifically, the appellants assert that the superior court erred by changing the ALJ’s role to one of appellate review for sufficiency of the evidence before the Committee where the permit applicant bore the burden of proof. They maintain that well-established law requires an ALJ to conduct a de novo review with a shift in the burden of proof to the permit challenger. For the reasons explained below, we agree and reverse. This case involves a permit issued by the Committee allowing MID-ROC, LLC,1 to construct and maintain a community dock over marshlands along the South Newport River in McIntosh County for a proposed subdivision. The permit was issued after three meetings with MID-ROC and the Committee over a ten-month period of time, and only after MID-ROC submitted an entirely new dock design in response to the Committee’s denial of a permit after the second meeting.

Following the Committee’s grant of a permit with the new dock design, Altamaha Riverkeeper, Inc. and two landowners with property near the proposed subdivision collectively “Riverkeeper” sought review of the Committee’s decision by an administrative law judge “ALJ”. The ALJ conducted hearings for three days over a three-month period and held the record open for almost two months to allow the parties to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The ALJ then issued a detailed 17-page de novo decision affirming the Committee’s decision to issue a dock permit based upon the evidence and arguments submitted by the parties. She also rejected Riverkeeper’s assertion that it could satisfy its “burden of proof by showing that the Committee lacked sufficient information upon which to make an informed decision.”