Town of Bartlett v. Beaty

440 S.W.2d 831, 59 Tenn. App. 406, 1967 Tenn. App. LEXIS 262
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 29, 1967
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 440 S.W.2d 831 (Town of Bartlett v. Beaty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of Bartlett v. Beaty, 440 S.W.2d 831, 59 Tenn. App. 406, 1967 Tenn. App. LEXIS 262 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

CARNEY, J.

The complainant, Town of Bartlett, Shelby County, Tennessee, has appealed from a decree of the Chancery Court of Shelby County dismissing its [409]*409original bill for injunctive relief against the defendant, Ellendale Utility District. It was and is the contention of the Town of Bartlett that under and by virtue of T.C.A. Section 6-2608 the Town of Bartlett has a right superior to that of the defendant Ellendale Utility District to furnish water to the Elmore Park Meadows, Inc. subdivision and to the residents thereof. The defendant, Quinton Olds, is the principal owner-developer of a 70-acre real estate subdivision located near the limits of the Town of Bartlett. The subdivision is incorporated under the name of Elmore Park Meadows, Inc. and Mr. Olds is president.

When complainant’s original bill was filed on June 4, 1964, the defendants, Quinton Olds and Elmore Park Meadows, Inc., had entered into a written contract with the Ellendale Utility District to obtain water for the subdivision and the respective houses as they were built in the subdivision. The main lines had been constructed and the water turned on when the bill was filed. At the time of the trial below in May, 1966, there had been some forty houses hooked up and using water furnished by Ellendale Utility District. Many other houses had been built but had not been occupied and hence were not then using water. The Chancellor held that the Town of Bartlett had waived its prior right to furnish water to the subdivision and dismissed the original bill.

The 70 acres of land comprising the Elmore Park Meadows, Inc. subdivision is located in the eastern part of Shelby County less than three miles from the limits of the Town of Bartlett and less than five miles from the city limits of Memphis, Tennessee, and outside but near the limits of the Ellendale Utility District. The exact distance is not shown. However, the proof does show that [410]*410Ellendale Utility District furnished water to property owners adjoining at least one side of the subdivision and the Town of Bartlett furnished water to property owners on one or more sides of the subdivision. The subdivision was being developed in three sections, A, B, and C. Section A was to be developed first and the Town of Bartlett had main lines closer to Section A than did the defendant Ellendale Utility District. The entire subdivision will have about 200 building lots. However, Ellendale Utility District had main lines closer to Sections B and C than did the Town of Bartlett.

T.C.A. Section 6-2608 provides in part as follows:

“Incorporated cities and towns having a population of 5,000 or over shall have the prior right as respects utility districts to extend water, sewer or other utilities in any territory within five (5) miles of their corporate limits; where an incorporated city or town has a population of less than five thousand (5,000), the limit shall be three (3) miles; provided, that this provision shall not apply within the boundaries of a utility district or to facilities heretofore extended by a utility district beyond its boundaries; and provided, further, that a utility district may extend water, sewer or other utility facilities into such an area through agreement with the city or town concerned. A city or town shall lose its prior right under the following conditions: (1) where an agreement cannot be reached, the utility district, by a resolution setting out the area to be served and the type of utility, shall notify the city or town of its intention to serve the area; (2) after receipt of such notice, the city or town shall have sixty (60) days in which to adopt an appropriate ordinance or resolution determining to serve the area within a specified [411]*411time; the utility district may within ten (10) days appeal to the county judge or chairman of the county court of the county in which the major part of the land area is located if it considers the time so determined is too long, whereupon the county judge or chairman after hearing both parties shall determine a reasonable time for the city or town to provide the services, and further appeal may be taken by either party as provided in sec. 6-2606 and (3) upon failure of the city or town to provide the services within the time so determined, the utility district shall be authorized to serve any part of the area not already served by the city or town. ’ ’

The Town of Bartlett had less than 5,000 inhabitants but Elmore Park Meadows, Inc. was located less than three miles from the city limits of Bartlett. Therefore, it would appear that under T.C.A. Section 6-2608 the City of Memphis and thus the Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division had the first right to furnish water to the Elmore Park Meadows, Inc. subdivision. The Town of Bartlett had the second right to furnish water to said subdivision. The Ellendale Utility District had the right to furnish the water only in the event the Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division and the Town of Bartlett both elected not to furnish said water services.

Sometime about January 1, 1964, the defendant, Quinton P. Olds, president of Elmore Park Meadows, Inc., discussed with D. J. Guillory, who was then the Mayor of the Town of Bartlett, the matter of obtaining water from the Town of Bartlett for his subdivision. Mayor Guillory advised Mr. Olds that he could have water on identical terms as given other developers in the area outside the corporate limits of Bartlett. Most of these [412]*412agreements required the developer to put up a substantial amount of money called “front end money.” In the course of several conversations between Mr. Olds and Mayor Guillory, Mr. Olds told Mayor Guillory that he planned also to negotiate with the Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division and the Ellendale Utility District for water service and that he was going to take the best deal offered.

In 1955 there had been a dispute between the Town of Bartlett and the Ellendale Utility District as to the area to be served by each. On September 30, 1955 the Ellendale Utility District and the Town of Bartlett had entered into a written agreement designating a particular line as the boundary of the respective areas to be served by the Town of Bartlett and the Ellendale Utility District. The 70-acre Elmore Park Meadows, Inc. subdivision is within the area to be served by the Town of Bartlett under the written agreement of date September 30, 1955, with the Ellendale Utility District.

On January 27, 1964, Mr. James W. Watson, attorney for the Town of Bartlett, wrote a letter to the Board of Commissioners of the Ellendale Utility District advising them in substance that information had come that the Ellendale Utility District was probably preparing to extend its water lines over into the area which the Town of Bartlett expected to serve and advising the Board of Commissioners that the Town of Bartlett claimed the right to serve this area both under the written agreement of date September 30, 1955, and under the provisions of T.C.A. Section 6-2608. Mr. Watson received no reply to this letter.

On or about February 14, 1964, Mayor Guillory received from an engineering firm in Memphis a written [413]*413estimate of the cost of extending the water mains of the Town of Bartlett to Section A of the proposed Elmore Park Meadows subdivision. Mayor G-uillory verbally reported this estimate of $29,000 to Mr. Olds and suggested that Mr. Olds should put up the entire amount as front end money as the other developers had done. Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
440 S.W.2d 831, 59 Tenn. App. 406, 1967 Tenn. App. LEXIS 262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-bartlett-v-beaty-tennctapp-1967.