City of Robertsdale v. Baldwin County

538 So. 2d 33, 1988 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 376, 1988 WL 126732
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama·Decided November 30, 1988·No. Civ. 6246·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA

INGRAM, Judge.

This case comes to us on remand from the Supreme Court of Alabama. In our original opinion, we affirmed the trial court on the basis of Ex parte City of Leeds, 473 So.2d 1060 (Ala.1985). City of Robertsdale v. Baldwin County, 538 So.2d 30 (Ala.Civ.App.1988) (hereinafter cited as Robertsdale I). However, at the urging of the appellant herein, the supreme court overruled City of Leeds, supra, and remanded the case to this court for consideration of the issues pretermitted by our decision in Robertsdale I. Ex parte City of Robertsdale, 538 So.2d 31 (Ala.1988). The major issue pretermitted by Robertsdale I was whether the City of Robertsdale (city), Baldwin County (county), or both, have the power to issue building permits regulating the use and design of structures within the city’s police jurisdiction but outside its corporate limits. The trial court held, inter alia, that the county had a superior power to issue such permits by virtue of § 11-24-5, Code 1975 (Cum.Supp.1988). We disagree with the trial court’s conclusion.

Alabama statutes regulating land use planning, including issuance of building permits, make a clear distinction between regulation of subdivisions and regulation of areas not located within subdivisions. We will, therefore, discuss those areas separately.

7. Subdivisions

The trial court determined that § 11-24-5, Code 1975 (Cum.Supp.1988), grants the county superior authority to issue building permits in all the territory located outside the city’s corporate limits but inside its police jurisdiction. This was error.

Section 11-24-5 provides:

“No county shall exercise jurisdiction under provisions of this chapter within the jurisdiction of any municipal planning commission presently organized and functional or which shall become organized and functional within six months of the date the county assumes such jurisdiction by publishing and adopting notice thereof.”

The chapter referred to in § 11-24-5 is entitled “Regulation of Subdivisions” and encompasses § 11-24-1 through § 11-24-7. Section 11-24-1 provides that a county may regulate the minimum size of lots, planning of public streets, and several other aspects of proposed subdivisions located “outside the corporate limits of any municipality in said county.” We fail to see how a statute regarding regulation of subdivisions can grant a county power to issue permits for construction throughout a city’s police jurisdiction. If § 11-24-5 has any application at all in this case, it is within subdivisions only. Nothing in chapter 24 of Title 11 authorizes a county to regulate any construction outside a “proposed subdivision.” The trial court therefore erred in applying § 11-24-5 to the entire area in dispute.

Under the circumstances of this case, the trial court further erred in its application of § 11-24-5. Section 11-24-5 limits the county’s power to regulate subdivisions located outside the corporate limits of a municipality in that it may not regulate subdivisions within the jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission (1) which was “presently organized and functional” or (2) which became organized and func[35]*35tional within six months after the county assumed jurisdiction. The county contends, and the trial court found, that the county “assumed jurisdiction” pursuant to § 11-24-1 when it began issuing building permits in unincorporated areas of the county in 1972. Since Robertsdale’s municipal planning commission was not organized until 1978, the trial court concluded that it had not been organized and functional within six months after the county assumed jurisdiction.

Although the trial court’s reasoning in this regard is sound, it ignores one very important aspect of the statute. That is that a county may not exercise jurisdiction pursuant to § 11-24-1 within the jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission “presently organized and functional.” Chapter 24 of Tit. 11 became law on July 30, 1979. Acts of Alabama 1979, Act No. 553, Regular Session, July 30, 1979, pp. 1002-04. Clearly, the legislature intended that no county exercise jurisdiction under § 11-24-1 within the jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission “organized and functional” as of that date. The evidence showed that Robertsdale did not actually issue building permits until 1982, but there was undisputed evidence that its municipal planning commission was “organized and functional” as of 1978. Thus, that body was “presently organized and functional” at the time the legislature enacted § 11-24-5. The county is precluded from exercising jurisdiction pursuant to § 11-24-1 over any area within the jurisdiction of Robertsdale’s municipal planning commission, and the trial court erred in holding otherwise.

We must, therefore, determine whether the disputed area was within the jurisdiction of the city’s municipal planning commission.

Section 11-52-30, Code 1975, grants a municipal planning commission jurisdiction over the subdivision of (1) all land within the municipality, and (2) all land within five miles of the corporate limits of the municipality which is not located in another municipality. Section 11-52-31, Code 1975, authorizes each municipal planning commission to adopt regulations governing the subdivision of land within its jurisdiction. City of Mobile v. Waldon, 429 So.2d 945 (Ala.1983). Section 11-40-10, Code 1975, outlines the police jurisdiction of municipalities in Alabama. That section provides, in pertinent part:

“The police jurisdiction in cities having 6,000 or more inhabitants shall cover all adjoining territory within three miles of the corporate limits, and in cities having less than 6,000 inhabitants and in towns, such police jurisdiction shall extend also to the adjoining territory within a mile and a half of the corporate limits of such city or town.”

Thus, the territorial jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission includes all the land within that municipality’s police jurisdiction.

Furthermore, § 11-52-36, Code 1975, provides that once a municipal planning commission assumes jurisdiction over the subdivision of land as provided in § 11-52-31, that jurisdiction is exclusive. Section ll-52-30(b) grants the county the authority to “approve plats” within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission. But after the plat has been approved, the municipal planning commission has exclusive jurisdiction over development of the subdivision, pursuant to § 11-52-36. A regulation requiring issuance of building permits falls within the authority of the municipal planning commission to “adopt regulations governing the subdivision of land within its jurisdiction.” § 11-52-31, Code 1975. See City of Mobile v. Waldon, supra; Smith v. City of Mobile, 374 So.2d 305 (Ala.1979).

Robertsdale’s municipal planning commission assumed jurisdiction over subdivisions within the City’s police jurisdiction when it became organized and functional in 1978. That jurisdiction is exclusive and § 11-24-5 does not divest the commission of jurisdiction. Therefore, the trial court erred in invoking § 11-24-5. The city, through its municipal planning commission, has exclusive power to issue permits for construction of buildings within subdivisions in the city’s police jurisdiction.

[36]*36 II. Areas Not Within Subdivisions

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

City of Robertsdale v. Baldwin County, 538 So. 2d 33, 1988 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 376, 1988 WL 126732 (Ala. Ct. App. 1988).

538 So. 2d 33 (City of Robertsdale v. Baldwin County) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Wilkins v. Johnson
595 So. 2d 466 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1992)