Kipling v. City of White Plains

80 S.W.3d 776, 2001 Ky. App. LEXIS 1167, 2001 WL 1472653
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedNovember 21, 2001
DocketNo. 1999-CA-002180-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 80 S.W.3d 776 (Kipling v. City of White Plains) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kipling v. City of White Plains, 80 S.W.3d 776, 2001 Ky. App. LEXIS 1167, 2001 WL 1472653 (Ky. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

GUIDUGLI, Judge.

Earl C. Kipling and Mary Kipling (the Kiplings) appeal from various orders of the Hopkins Circuit Court which granted an easement across their farm to the City of White Plains (the City) for the purpose of installing a water line. We affirm.

Due to the adverse effects of strip mining operations in Southern Hopkins County some twenty years ago, nineteen households in the Mount Carmel area of the [778]*778county lost their water supply. The Kentucky Division of Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) studied the situation and set aside $350,000 in funds to replace the water supply to these homes. A decision was made to extend the City’s water and sewer lines approximately six miles to the Mt. Carmel area.

The Kiplings own a 275-acre farm in Hopkins County, Kentucky.; Although the farm is outside the City’s limits, it abuts the City’s municipal boundary and is bordered by Mt. Carmel Road. Some of the homes which would benefit from extension of the water line are across Mt. Carmel Road from the Kiplings’ farm.

In July 1994, the Kiplings filed a petition with the Hopkins County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors (the Board) seeking to have their property declared an agricultural district pursuant to KRS 262.850.1 The Board recommended that the petition be approved, and the Kentucky Soil and Water Conservation Commission (the Commission) ultimately approved the petition.

On April 22, 1998, the City filed a verified petition with the trial court seeking to condemn a portion of the Kiplings’ farm to obtain an easement for the purpose of constructing a sewer and water line across the farm.2 Specifically, the City sought to condemn a strip of land running approximately 3,400 feet parallel with the Mt. Carmel Road. Funding for the utility lines was to come from several grants from the AML, the Farmers Home Administration and the Kentucky Division of Local Government. At this point in time, the City was not contributing money to the construction of the utilities.

Following receipt of the petition, the Kiplings forwarded a copy of it to the Board pursuant to KRS 262.850(16), which states:

Any member of an agricultural district who has received a summons of condemnation proceedings being instituted concerning the member’s land located in the district may request the local soil and water conservation district board of supervisors to hold a public hearing on the proposed taking of land. However, a hearing under this section shall not be held if the petitioner is a utility as defined in KRS 278.010(3) and obtained a certificate of convenience and necessity as required by KRS 278.020(1).3

In the letter accompanying the copy of the petition, the Kiplings asked the Board to hold a hearing pursuant to KRS 262.850(16) “for the purpose of approving [779]*779or denying the condemnation of land within the Agricultural District[.]”4

On May 21, 1998, the trial court entered an order appointing three Commissioners to determine just compensation for the taking of the Kiplings’ land. On July 2, 1998, the Commissioners filed their report wherein they recommended that the Kip-lings be awarded $500. In a letter accompanying the report, the Commissioners stated that:

the advantage of sharing a water line available along Mr. Kiplings’s road frontage would greatly outweigh any inconvenience, but due to any damage which might occur to his crops, we are making this award. We also feel that having a ser [sic] line on his property should also be an asset to him.
Therefore, we are awarding him $500.00 (R) based on approximately 1.38 acres of land used in permanent and temporary easements x 150 bushels of corn per acre x $2.57 per bushel. This equation was arrived at from information obtained from the U of K extension office.

On July 20, 1998, the Kiplings filed a motion to quash, dismiss, and exceptions with the trial court.5 In regard to the motion to quash, the Kiplings maintained that they were not served with a copy of the Commissioners’ award. As to the motion to dismiss, the Kiplings maintained that because their land was an agricultural district:

Pursuant to the provisions of KRS 262.850(16), the determination of the right of condemnation for the utility herein has been delegated by the Legislature to the “Board,” and this Court lacks the jurisdiction to otherwise consider the merits of the condemnation of the Defendant’s property within the agricultural district.

In the alternative, the Kiplings asked the trial court to hold the matter in abeyance pending a hearing and entry of a decision by the Board, “and if that ‘Final Decision’ of the ‘Board’ is to deny the proposed condemnation of the real property ... then to confirm that ‘Final Decision,’ and to dismiss the Petition.” As to their exceptions to the Petition, the Kiplings maintained that (1) the City’s action was “arbitrary and capricious, and ultra vires; (2) the City could not condemn the property unless the Board entered an order approving the condemnation; (3) should the Board enter an order approving the condemnation, the trial court should consider the propriety of condemnation pursuant to KRS 416.610; and (4) that the Commissioners’ award was a ‘denial of just compensation.’ ”6

In response to the Kiplings’ motion, the City argued that nothing in KRS 262.850 divested the trial court of its jurisdiction to decide condemnation claims.7 The City maintained that the only thing the Board was authorized to do under KRS 262.850(16) was to hold a hearing on the [780]*780proposed taking. The City further argued that KRS 262.850(16) had no application because it was seeking a permanent easement for underground utility lines as opposed to a permanent taking of land.

In an order entered July 29, 1998, the trial court gave the parties permission to ask the Board to hold a hearing pursuant to KRS 262.850(16), and instructed the parties to provide it with a copy of the Board’s final recommendation. In accordance with the trial court’s order, the hearing was properly noticed and held on July 28, 1998, at City Hall.

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Bluebook (online)
80 S.W.3d 776, 2001 Ky. App. LEXIS 1167, 2001 WL 1472653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kipling-v-city-of-white-plains-kyctapp-2001.