Calabria v. City of Fayetteville

644 S.W.2d 249, 277 Ark. 489, 1982 Ark. LEXIS 1595
Supreme Court of Arkansas·Decided December 6, 1982·No. 82-141·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinions

John I. Purtle, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Washington County Chancery Court declaring an ordinance of the city of Fayetteville to be valid. The decree specifically held that Fayetteville’s City Ordinance No. 1661, as amended, does not take or damage appellants’ property without just compensation and therefore is not in violation of Article 2 § 22 of the Arkansas Constitution. On appeal the appellants insist that Ark. Stat. Ann. § 76-2205 (Repl. 1981) and our decision in Arkansas State Highway Comm. v. Arkansas Power & Light Co., 231 Ark. 307, 330 S.W.2d 77 (1959), mandate a reversal of the chancellor’s ruling. Also, appellants argue that ordinance no. 1661 constitutes an unreasonable exercise of the police power. We agree with appellants’ argument and reverse and remand.

This is a declaratory judgment action by the appellants against the appellees. The facts are stipulated and the decree was rendered upon the pleadings and stipulations. Ordinance no. 1661, as amended, provides for development of service roads along controlled access highways. This particular service road is alongside the U.S. Highway 71 by-pass in the western part of the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas. This ordinance does not apply to any area of the city except controlled access highways. The crucial clause in the contested ordinance requires the owner and developer of land abutting a controlled access highway to construct a service road at his expense and dedicate the road to the city of Fayetteville. Sections 3 (a) and 3 (c) of ordinance 1661 provide in part:

(a) ... a service road may be constructed on state highway right-of-way by the published standards of the Arkansas Highway Department and acceptable to said Highway Department. The service road shall be provided at the expense of the developer.
(c) The service road (unless constructed on state highway right-of-way) and any property between it and the right-of-way to the controlled access highway shall be dedicated to the City of Fayetteville upon completion and acceptance.

In the present case the highway department had instituted condemnation proceedings and taken possession of this property under an order of taking. The service road has been completed and the trial on the amount of damages to be awarded the plaintiffs is yet to follow. The appellants brought an action for a declaratory judgment after the Arkansas State Highway Commission had reduced their deposit from $102,000 to $16,000, acting in reliance upon Fayetteville City Ordinance No. 1661, as amended.

Title 76, chapter 22 of the Arkansas Statutes deals with controlled access facilities. Section 76-2205 authorizes acquisition of private property by the state, county or city for the purpose of constructing controlled access facilities and service roads. The pertinent part of this section authorizes acquisition by “gift, devise, purchase, or condemnation.” All rights acquired under this section are in fee simple. There is no question but that the service road which is the subject of this action is a part of the controlled access facility. Section 76-2203 grants authority to the state, county, cities, towns and villages

... to plan, designate, establish, regulate, vacate, alter, improve, maintain, and provide controlled-access facilities for public use whenever such authority or authorities are of the opinion that traffic conditions, present or future, will justify such special facilities; provided, that within cities and villages, such authority shall be subject to such municipal consent as may be provided by law.

Chapter 28 of Title 19, Arkansas Statutes Annotated (Repl. 1980), authorizes building and zone regulations. Section 19-2829 (c) pertains to control of development and subdivision of land by cities and towns and states in pertinent part:

The regulations controlling the development of land may establish or provide for the minimum requirements as to: information to be included on the plat filed for record; the design and layout of the subdivision, including standards for lots and blocks, street rights-of-way, street and utility grades, and other similar items...
The regulations . . . may provide for the dedication of all rights-of-way to the public.

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Calabria v. City of Fayetteville, 644 S.W.2d 249, 277 Ark. 489, 1982 Ark. LEXIS 1595 (Ark. 1982).

644 S.W.2d 249 (Calabria v. City of Fayetteville) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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