Jarrell v. Town of New Llano

973 So. 2d 952, 7 La.App. 3 Cir. 787, 2007 La. App. LEXIS 2384, 2007 WL 4554294
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 28, 2007
DocketNo. 2007-787
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 973 So. 2d 952 (Jarrell v. Town of New Llano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Jarrell v. Town of New Llano, 973 So. 2d 952, 7 La.App. 3 Cir. 787, 2007 La. App. LEXIS 2384, 2007 WL 4554294 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

COOKS, Judge.

|, The Town of New Llano appeals the judgment of the trial court which held two ordinances it passed seeking the annexation of property were without effect because of its failure to comply with statutory requirements. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On June 6, 2005, the Town of New Llano (hereafter “the Town”) passed two “Ordinances of Annexation” pursuant to the provisions of Title 33 governing the expansion of boundaries by a political subdivision of the State of Louisiana.

Ordinance Number One was an attempt by the Town to annex a portion of U.S. Highway 171 under La.R.S. 33:180(B) and (C) into the corporate limits of the Town. The Town contends that statute allows a public body to annex the paved portion of a highway and its accompanying right of ways without the necessity of annexing any private property upon the mere consent of the State and without the necessity of public hearings and other requirements as stipulated under La.R.S. 33:172. The portion of Hwy. 171 in question extended from the existing southerly limits of the Town south approximately two and one quarter miles to the intersection of Hwy. 171 and Perkins Road. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development granted its consent to the annexation as required by La.R.S. 33:180.

Ordinance Number Two was an attempt by the Town to annex private property adjacent to U.S. Highway 171 on both sides under La.R.S. 33:172, which contemplates annexation of private property that is not contiguous to the municipality’s corporate limits. To annex private property [954]*954by petition and ordinance, La.R.S. 33:172(A)(l)(a) requires:

No ordinance enlarging the boundaries of a municipality shall be valid unless, prior to the adoption thereof, a petition has been presented to the ^governing body of a municipality containing the written assent of a majority of the registered voters and a majority in number of the resident property owners as well as twenty-five percent in value of the property of the resident property owners within the area proposed to be included in the corporate limits, all according to the certificates of the parish assessor and parish registrar of voters.

In May 2005, a Petition for Annexation requesting the Private Property Annexation was submitted to the Parish of Registrar of Voters and the Parish Assessor in order to verify and certify that consent of the requisite number of registered voters and resident property owners was represented in the Petition. Later that month, the Town published notices of the two proposed Ordinances in the local newspaper as required by statute. According to the notices, a public hearing was scheduled for June 6, 2005 to discuss the proposed Ordinances. This was to be followed by a Board of Aldermen meeting to vote on the Ordinances.

At the public hearing, several people voiced objections to the proposed ordinances. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the Town’s Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to adopt the two Ordinances. As required by La.R.S. 33:173, Ordinances One and Two were published in the local newspaper.

Louisiana Revised Statutes 33:174 allows thirty days for any individual party desiring to object to file suit contesting the proposed ordinances. Within that time period, suit was filed by the plaintiffs against the Town contesting the proposed annexations. Plaintiffs alleged that the Certificates of the Assessor and the Registrar of Voters did not comply with the statutory requirements set forth in R.S. 33:174. Plaintiffs also alleged the annexations were unreasonable.

The Town filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, contending it met all statutory requirements and there were no genuine issues of material fact as to whether the annexations were reasonable. The trial court denied summary judgment, finding there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether the Certificates of the | ^Assessor and the Registrar of Voters were valid.

At trial, the parties agreed to stipulate that all issues pertaining to whether the annexations were unreasonable would be submitted on the record. The trial court found the two Ordinances were without effect because of the Town’s failure to comply with the statutory requirements of La.R.S. 33:172 and 33:180. The trial court set forth the following written reasons for its judgment:

The issues presented for decision are governed by statute under La.R.S. 33:172 and La.R.S. 33:180 which state the law applicable to annexation of property by a public body. The Town of New Llano adopted two ordinances to annex property that would include an approximate 2 mile stretch of Highway 171 located south of the present corporate limits.
The court finds that New Llano has failed to comply with the statutory requirements of La.R.S. 33:172 and La. R.S. 33:180 and as a result the annexations must fail.
Ordinance Number Two was an attempt to annex the property in question under La.R.S. 33:172. The court finds that the certificate submitted by the [955]*955Vernon Parish Tax Assessor does not meet the statutory requirements of R.S. 33:172(A)(1) in that it does not certify, as required by the statute, the number of resident property owners who signed an annexation petition, or the percentage in value of resident property owners who signed an annexation petition. This court further finds that the certificate submitted by the Registrar of Voters does not accurately reflect the written assent of a majority of the registered voters of the property to be annexed. The court herein adopts the reasons for its findings as cited in the post trial memorandum of the plaintiffs.
Ordinance Number One was an attempt by New Llano to annex the property in question under La.R.S. 33:180(B)(C) under the theory that the statute allows a public body to annex the paved portion of a highway and its accompanying right of ways without the necessity of annexing any private property upon the mere consent of the State without the necessity of public hearings and other requirements as stipulated under R.S. 33:172.
The court finds that R.S. 33:180(B) does not permit the annexation of the paved portion of a roadway without the annexation of all property adjacent to at least one side of the road. The Town of New Llano argues that “all property” under the terms of the statute means public right of way property and does not include private property. The court finds that the clear language of the statute stipulates nothing less than all property, whether public or private, adjacent to at least one side 14of the road, must be included in the annexation. The court notes that the statute makes a distinction between annexation of the right of way as a corridor and annexation of the paved portion of the roadway by providing different means to accomplish the end result within the statute. Common sense dictates that if “all property” should mean “public property” then a simple substitution of the word “public” for “all” would have been appropriate. In that the court has found the attempt to annex private property under Ordinance Number Two to be invalid, the attempt to annex under R.S. 33:180(B)(C) is also invalid. To annex property under R.S. 33:180(B), the requirements of R.S. 33:172 must be met.

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973 So. 2d 952, 7 La.App. 3 Cir. 787, 2007 La. App. LEXIS 2384, 2007 WL 4554294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jarrell-v-town-of-new-llano-lactapp-2007.