County of Knox Ex Rel. Masterson v. Highlands, L.L.C.

The majority has concluded that the Knox County Zoning Board of Appeals has no jurisdiction over zoning. Because I cannot join in such a patently incorrect declaration, I must dissent.

Citing Castaneda v. Illinois Human Rights Comm’n, 132 Ill. 2d 304 (1989), the majority rightly states that a party need not exhaust its administrative remedies if it attacks an agency’s jurisdiction as not authorized by statute. However, in examining the case that Castaneda cites for this proposition, One Way Liquors, Inc. v. Byrne, one notes that “[t]he meaning of the word ‘jurisdiction’ is limited in scope. It…