Individual objector filed a notice of appeal of decision of city’s board of aldermen to approve application for conditional use and preliminary plat approval. After the ten-day period for taking an appeal had run, objector then amended the notice of appeal to name applicant as appellee.
In a different action, an objector, which was a neighboring property owner, filed a notice of appeal of city’s decision to grant preliminary plat approval for the development of a subdivision, and that notice of appeal did not name the applicant as a party.
The Circuit Court entered separate judgments dismissing the appeals in both actions. Both objectors appealed, and the two actions were consolidated.
As a matter of first impression, the Supreme Court held that under the statute governing appeals of decisions of local governing authorities, which requires that a petitioner before a local governing authority be made a party to the appeal, a notice of appeal that is filed on time but that erroneously omits a petitioner’s name does not defeat the circuit court’s jurisdiction.
Under the statute governing appeals of decisions of local governing authorities, which requires that a petitioner before a local governing authority be made a party to the appeal, a notice of appeal that is filed on time but that erroneously omits a petitioner’s name does not defeat the circuit court’s jurisdiction, and the omission may be corrected; naming all petitioners as appellees in a notice of appeal is a procedural requirement and is not jurisdictional.