Pinellas County Planning Council v. Smith

360 So. 2d 371, 1978 Fla. LEXIS 4679
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedFebruary 2, 1978
Docket50730
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 360 So. 2d 371 (Pinellas County Planning Council v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pinellas County Planning Council v. Smith, 360 So. 2d 371, 1978 Fla. LEXIS 4679 (Fla. 1978).

Opinion

360 So.2d 371 (1978)

PINELLAS COUNTY PLANNING COUNCIL, Appellant,
v.
Derwin B. SMITH, II, Etc., et al., Appellees.

No. 50730.

Supreme Court of Florida.

February 2, 1978.
Rehearing Denied May 25, 1978.

Scott L. Knox, Asst. County Atty., Clearwater, for appellant.

John T. Allen, Jr., St. Petersburg, and Chester B. McMullen, Jr., Clearwater, for appellees.

Joseph C. Jacobs of Ervin, Varn, Jacobs, Odom & Kitchen, Tallahassee, for Senator Henry B. Sayler as amicus curiae.

HATCHETT, Justice.

In this case, we are called upon to determine whether Chapter 73-594, Laws of Florida, which established the Pinellas County Planning Council and authorized it to prepare a comprehensive countywide land use plan, violates Article III, Section 11(a)(1), Florida Constitution, in that it affects the jurisdiction or duties of a class of officers. We decide this question in the negative.

On January 15, 1974, the Board of County Commissioners of Pinellas County adopted a comprehensive land use plan promulgated by the Pinellas County Planning *372 Council pursuant to Chapter 73-594, Laws of Florida. The plan designated the property owned by appellees as an open space recreation area and prohibited any residential, commercial or industrial use of the land. Appellees brought an action seeking to declare this special act violative of Article III, Section 11(a)(1) of the Florida Constitution in that it affects the powers, prerogatives, rights, responsibilities, and obligations of the duly elected Board of County Commissioners. The circuit court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and found Chapter 73-594, as amended by Chapter 74-584, unconstitutional.[1] We have jurisdiction. Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.

Recognizing the necessity for the "orderly growth, development, and environmental protection of Pinellas County" the Legislature passed Chapter 73-594, which established the Pinellas County Planning Council. At the time Chapter 73-594 was passed, the 24 municipalities in Pinellas County each had power to prepare separate *373 land use plans under Chapter 166, Florida Statutes (1975), and the board of county commissioners had the power to prepare a plan for all unincorporated areas of the county. Section 125.01(1)(g), Florida Statutes (1975). No body existed, however, with authority to develop a comprehensive countywide plan or to coordinate the existing plans of the several municipalities and the board. The Legislature attempted to remedy this problem by establishing the Pinellas County Planning Council.

Appellees contend that Chapter 73-594 is violative of Article III, Section 11(a)(1), Florida Constitution which provides:

SECTION 11. Prohibited Special Laws. —
(a) There shall be no special law or general law of local application pertaining to:
(1) election, jurisdiction or duties of officers, except officers of municipalities, chartered counties, special districts or local governmental agencies. (emphasis added)

It is their contention that the act is unconstitutional because it usurps powers and duties previously exercised by the Board of County Commissioners, i.e., countywide land use planning. We do not agree.

While Article III, Section 11(a)(1) provides that there shall be no special law of local application pertaining to the jurisdiction or duty of a class of officers, this court has interpreted that section to mean that where the primary or main purpose of a special act is a valid county purpose, and where the effect of the act upon the jurisdiction or duties of county officers is incidental to that main purpose, the act is not in violation of the constitutional provision. Brandon Planning and Zoning Authority v. Burns, 304 So.2d 121 (Fla. 1974). In Kirkland v. Phillips, 106 So.2d 909 (Fla. 1958), we upheld a special act creating the Port Authority for Liberty County in the face of an attack that the act unconstitutionally affected the jurisdiction and duties of the Board of County Commissioners. We held that although the act required the board to perform duties which theretofore were not required, the additional duties were merely incidental to the main purpose of the act. Recognizing our historical judicial approval of county agencies created to deal with countywide problems or functions, we stated:

[O]ur statute books are full of authorizing legislation establishing similar authorities for many Florida counties. There are taxing districts, hospital districts, drainage districts and many other similar districts or such agencies of county government that have been created by local acts of the Legislature. The cases sustain the notion that these agencies serve a useful and valid county function. In many instances they have contributed immeasurably to the growth and development of the counties which they serve. We have no difficulty, therefore, in reaching the conclusion that the functions authorized to be performed by the Port Authority for Liberty County were valid and proper county functions. Having arrived at this point, it is perfectly clear that the duties imposed upon the county commissioners by the 1955 act were merely incidental to the main purposes of the act and being such the act will not be considered as violative of Article III, Section 20, of the Florida Constitution.[2] (at 912)

In Wilson v. Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, 138 So.2d 65 (Fla. 1962) the court considered a special act creating the Hillsborough Aviation Authority which was given

"... exclusive jurisdiction, control, supervision and management over all airports in the County, whether owned by municipalities in said county or the county, except airports owned, controlled and operated by private persons. The Authority shall have the power to let or lease any airport or portion of the same, *374 including the buildings and hangars thereon, and to grant concessions upon such terms and conditions as it shall deem proper." Chapter 23339, Section 4, Laws of Florida (1945).

Under prior general legislation and under the general "Airport Law of 1945" the municipalities and boards of county commissioners throughout the state had the power to regulate and operate airports within their jurisdiction. Chapter 149, Florida Statutes (1941), (1945). The special act creating the authority contained the following stated purposes:

It is not the purpose and intent of this Act to divest the title of any municipally owned or County owned airports situated in the County, but it is the intent and purpose of this Act to confer authority and jurisdiction over all such airports so as to coordinate the proper functions and operations of the same, for the best interests of said County and City. Chapter 23339, Section 7, Laws of Florida (1945). (emphasis supplied)

The Wilson Court upheld the special act, determining that it had a valid county purpose:

We have heretofore upheld local acts establishing various special improvements districts and county development authorities such as the County Airport Authority here involved. In those instances where we have approved such legislation, we did so on the basis that the county agency served an important and valid public purpose. When an analysis of a statute reveals that an appropriate county purpose will be served by the agency created, we have consistently extended to the legislation our judicial approval.
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360 So. 2d 371, 1978 Fla. LEXIS 4679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pinellas-county-planning-council-v-smith-fla-1978.