Middlebrook v. City of Bartlett

341 F. Supp. 2d 950, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26127, 2003 WL 23845184
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Tennessee
DecidedMarch 7, 2003
Docket01-2706 M1/Bre
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 341 F. Supp. 2d 950 (Middlebrook v. City of Bartlett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Middlebrook v. City of Bartlett, 341 F. Supp. 2d 950, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26127, 2003 WL 23845184 (W.D. Tenn. 2003).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

MCCALLA, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, filed September 9, 2002. Plaintiff responded in opposition on November 8, 2002. Defendants filed a reply brief on November 15, 2002. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Defendants’ motion.

I. Background

This case concerns Plaintiffs’ attempts to obtain a building permit from the City of Bartlett (“Bartlett”). Plaintiff James Middlebrook purchased a 1.42 acre tract of land in Bartlett at the corner of Billy Maher Road and Fiske Road in 1993. Plaintiffs property is located in the extreme northwest corner of Bartlett. Plaintiffs property has never been connected to either Bartlett’s water or sewer system.

A. Plaintiffs’ Initial Request for a Building Permit

Plaintiff desired to build a home on this piece of land. He hired someone to draw blueprints for the house and, beginning in late 1995, he attempted to obtain a building permit from Bartlett.

In order to obtain a building permit in Bartlett, a property owner must have either sewer service or a septic tank. In order for a property owner to obtain permission to install a septic tank, the property must be at least two acres with access to public water, or at least four acres if public water is not available.

Plaintiffs property was not connected to either Bartlett’s sewer or water system in 1995. Therefore, Plaintiff would have been required to include plans for a septic tank in the plans for his house. Defendant William McClanahan, who was the Bartlett City Engineer in 1995, met with Plaintiff and initially informed him that he could not build a house on his property because he did not own two acres of land. 1 Mr. McClanahan believed that all landowners were required to own at least two acres of land before they would be allowed to install a septic tank. Given that Plaintiff owned only 1.42 acres of land, Mr. McCla- *953 nahan informed him that he could not build on the land because he was not allowed to install a septic tank. Mr. McCla-nahan also apparently informed Plaintiff that it would cost $7,000 to run the water line to his property and $20,000-$40,000 to provide sewer service to his property. Mr. McClanahan then referred Plaintiff to Defendant Charles Goforth, who served as Bartlett’s Director of Planning and Development in 1995. Mr. Goforth confirmed that Plaintiff could not build a house on the property given the acreage.

Plaintiff has stated that although he went to City Hall in 1995 to obtain a building permit, he never filled out an application for a building permit for the property or supplied Bartlett with all of the required documentation. However, he also states that he was never informed of all of the requirements for receiving a building permit (i.e. the requirements listed in paragraph 6 of the Affidavit of Ancil P. Austin).

In February of 1997, Mr. Goforth again met with Plaintiff and informed 2 him that the Shelby County Health Department had made an exception for his parcel of land in 1975 3 that allowed a septic tank to be used notwithstanding the two acre minimum requirement. Mr. Goforth informed Plaintiff that, in accordance with this exception, he could build a house on the property if he installed a septic tank. Plaintiff has stated that he was willing to install a septic tank at that time.

B. Requests for Water and Sewer Service

However, Plaintiff still needed a water connection in order to install a septic tank. On February 24, 1997, Mr. McClanahan requested that the Public Works Director schedule an extension of the water line to Plaintiffs property as soon as possible. Before Bartlett was able to run a water line to Plaintiffs property, Memphis Light, Gas & Water (“MLGW”) ran a water line down Billy Maher Road to within forty feet of Plaintiffs property in 1997. This water line is apparently located across the street from Plaintiffs property.

Plaintiff would be required to pay MLGW a fee to connect to its water line. According to Mr. Goforth, the fee to connect to the MLGW line is less than the cost to connect to the line that Bartlett had planned to extend to Plaintiffs property-

Mr. Goforth states that he informed Plaintiff in late 1997 or early 1998 about the MLGW line. Plaintiff claims to have had monthly contact with Mr. Goforth between mid-1997 until October of 1998 in an attempt to obtain information regarding *954 sewer and water service. However, Plaintiffs affidavit states that he was never informed prior to April 29, 1999 that MLGW had run a water line near his property to which he could connect. This is contradicted by Plaintiffs deposition testimony, in which he states that he was told the price to connect to the MLGW water line would be '$500-$750. He apparently discussed this with Mr. McClanahan some time prior to November 9, 1998, at which time Plaintiff informed Mr. McClanahan that he thought this was a good price and he wanted to be hooked up to the MLGW water line. In his deposition, Plaintiff stated that he believed Mr. McClanahan refused to hook him up to MLGW because of his race.

In his deposition, Plaintiff also testified that he spoke with Mr. Goforth in October of 1998. According to Plaintiff, Mr. Go-forth told him that he would not be getting either water or sewer from Bartlett. Plaintiff states he viewed this as race discrimination;

On December 8, 1998, Mr. Goforth confirmed at a public meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that Plaintiff could install a septic tank on his property. At the meeting, Plaintiff stated that he did not want to install a septic tank because he preferred a Bartlett sewer connection.

In January of 1999, Bartlett adopted the Sewer Extension Plan to provide sewer service to the twenty-one areas in Bartlett that did not have them. According to Mr. McClanahan, these , areas include residents of all races. The area where Plaintiffs property is located is scheduled for sewer installation in 2005.

Plaintiff met with Jay Rainey, Bartlett’s Chief Administrative Officer, and Kenneth Fulmar, Bartlett’s Mayor, in February of 1999, and advised them that he had received conflicting information in the past as to whether he could build on his property with a septic tank. In March of 1999, Mr. Rainey sent Plaintiff a letter confirming that he could install a septic tank on his property if he wanted to build on the property before Bartlett made sewer service available. Mr. Rainey also confirmed that Mr. McClanahan had originally given Plaintiff incorrect information regarding the two acre requirement because Mr. McClanahan did not have access to Plaintiffs plat and the exception allowing a septic tank at the initial meeting.

In response to a request from Plaintiff, Mr. McClanahan sent Plaintiff a letter in April of 1999 telling him to speak with Kevin Poe at MLGW about connecting to MLGW’s water line. Mr. McClanahan informed Plaintiff that he could apply for a building permit upon installing a septic tank.

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Bluebook (online)
341 F. Supp. 2d 950, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26127, 2003 WL 23845184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/middlebrook-v-city-of-bartlett-tnwd-2003.