Sunset Cliff Homeowners Ass'n v. Water Resources Board

¶ 1. Sunset Cliff Homeowners Association and Strathmore Homeowners Association (“Sunset Cliff”) appeal from a superior court order concluding that they are entitled only to “on the record” review — via a declaratory-judgment action — of a Water Resources Board decision declining to reclassify certain wetlands in Burlington. We conclude that the trial court erred in determining that it had jurisdiction to consider Sunset Cliff’s declaratory-judgment action.

¶ 2. We first briefly summarize the legal landscape surrounding wetlands in Vermont. When this litigation began, the Water Resources Board…