§ 11-52-30 — Planning Jurisdiction; Subdivision Regulations; Approval of Amps or Plats; Limits on Exercise of Powers

(a)(1) Except as otherwise provided herein, the planning jurisdiction of any municipal planning commission shall include all land located in the corporate limits of the municipality and all land lying within the police jurisdiction of the municipality on January 1, 2021.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (1), beginning January 1, 2023, the planning jurisdiction of any municipal planning commission shall include all land located in the corporate limits of the municipality and all land not located in any other municipality within a mile and a half outside the corporate limits, unless extended by local law enacted after January 1, 2023, to include all land not located in any other municipality within three miles outside the corporate limits; except that, in the case of any nonmunicipal land lying within the planning jurisdiction of more than one municipality having a municipal planning commission, the jurisdiction of each municipal planning commission shall terminate at a boundary line equidistant from the respective corporate limits of the municipalities.
(3) Any alterations of a municipal planning jurisdiction based upon annexation or deannexation of property within the corporate limits of a municipality shall occur once a year on the first day of January and shall take effect for any annexations which were finalized on or before the preceding first day of October.
(b)(1) Except as otherwise provided by law on July 26, 2021, nothing in this section shall be interpreted as allowing the municipal planning commission of a municipality to exercise any authority outside the corporate limits of the municipality other than the regulation of subdivisions.
(2) Within a municipal planning jurisdiction outside of the corporate limits of the municipality, municipal subdivision regulations shall not be applied to any transaction resulting in the direct sale, deed, or transfer of land by the owner to any individual who may be eligible to inherit that land from the owner under Article 3 of Chapter 8 of Title 43, relating to intestate succession. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any transaction resulting in the direct sale, deed, or transfer of that land occurring within 24 months of the excepted transfer shall be subject to municipal subdivision regulations.
(c) In all counties having a population of 600,000 or more according to the 1950 federal census or any succeeding decennial federal census, the county planning and zoning commission shall be invested with the authority to zone property outside of municipal corporate limits, except where that authority has previously been provided to a municipality by general or local law on or before July 26, 2021; provided, further, that in all counties having a population of 600,000 or more inhabitants according to the 1950 federal census or any succeeding decennial federal census, the county commission of the county may establish minimum specifications and regulations governing the lay-out, grading, and paving of all streets, avenues, and alleys and the construction or installation of all water, sewer, or drainage pipes or lines in any subdivision lying wholly or partly in areas outside the corporate limits of any municipality in the counties and relating to subdivisions lying within the corporate limits of any municipality in the counties which has declined or failed to exercise zoning jurisdiction and control as provided in this section.
(d) A municipal planning commission, by resolution properly adopted no later than the first day of October of any year, may reduce the radius of its planning jurisdiction, effective on the first day of the following January. The municipal planning commission shall cease to levy any charges or fees relating to subdivision planning within the area removed from the planning jurisdiction. A copy of the resolution altering the planning jurisdiction shall be forwarded to the county commission within five days of adoption. Additionally, nothing in this subsection shall be construed to alter the provisions of Article 5 of Chapter 49, which require a municipality to assume responsibility for roads annexed into the municipality under certain circumstances.
(e)(1)a. If a county commission has adopted subdivision regulations pursuant to Chapter 24, those subdivision regulations shall apply to the development of subdivisions within the planning jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission outside the corporate limits of a municipality and shall be regulated and enforced by the county commission in the same manner and to the same extent as other subdivision development governed by the county’s subdivision regulations.
b.1. Notwithstanding paragraph a., the county commission and the municipal planning commission may enter into a written agreement providing that the municipal planning commission shall be responsible for the regulation and enforcement of the development of subdivisions within the planning jurisdiction of the municipal planning commission under the terms and conditions of the agreement.
2. In order to be effective, the agreement shall be approved by a resolution adopted by the county commission, an ordinance adopted by the municipal governing body, and a resolution adopted by the municipal planning commission of the municipality.
(2)a. In those counties in which the county commission has adopted subdivision regulations pursuant to Chapter 24 and the municipal planning commission has been unsuccessful in reaching an agreement to exercise its jurisdiction as provided in subdivision (1), the municipal planning commission shall discontinue the regulation of subdivisions outside of its corporate limits and shall cease levying any charges or fees relating to subdivision regulation within the planning jurisdiction, no later than 24 months after receipt of written notice by the municipal planning commission from the county commission detailing that the county commission has adopted subdivision regulations.
b. The county commission, by resolution, may withdraw jurisdiction over future subdivisions located in the municipal planning jurisdiction, effective six months after receipt of written notice by the municipal planning commission from the county commission detailing the adoption of the resolution.
c. After withdrawal by the county commission, the municipal planning commission may resume subdivision regulation and the levying of related charges or fees within its planning jurisdiction outside the corporate limits.
d. The county commission, no sooner than 24 months following withdrawal, may adopt a resolution to reinstate subdivision regulation in the municipal planning jurisdiction, effective six months after receipt of written notice by the municipal planning commission from the county commission detailing the adoption of the resolution. The municipal planning commission shall then discontinue the regulation of subdivisions outside of its corporate limits and shall cease levying any charges or fees relating to subdivision regulation.
(f) If a county commission has not adopted subdivision regulations pursuant to Chapter 24, the municipal planning commission shall have sole jurisdiction for the regulation and enforcement of the development of subdivisions within the planning jurisdiction of the municipal planning commission.
(g) Subject to subdivision (b)(2) and subsection (e), and unless otherwise provided for by an agreement between a county and a municipality adopted pursuant to this section, if any portion of a proposed subdivision is located within a municipal planning jurisdiction as provided in this section, the subdivision regulations of the municipal planning commission shall apply to the proposed subdivision.
(h) Any subdivision issued approval by a municipality on or before July 26, 2021 or while a municipal planning commission is regulating that subdivision pursuant to subsection (e) shall not require separate approval by the county commission; provided, that the plans were prepared and accepted to standards meeting or exceeding those required by the county commission.
(i) If the municipal planning commission accepts responsibility for the development of a subdivision within its planning jurisdiction outside of the corporate limits as provided in subsection (e), the county commission shall not accept any roads or bridges within the subdivision for county maintenance unless the county engineer certifies to the county commission that the road or bridge meets the minimum road and bridge standards of the county. This section shall not apply to any roads or bridges which the county has accepted for maintenance prior to October 1, 2012.
(j) If the county commission is responsible for the regulation and enforcement of a subdivision development within the planning jurisdiction of a municipal planning commission outside the corporate limits of a municipality, the recording of any map or plat related to the subdivision shall be governed by Chapter 24.
(k) If the municipal planning commission is responsible for the regulation and enforcement of a subdivision development within the planning jurisdiction of the municipal planning commission outside the corporate limits of the municipality, no map or plat of any subdivision shall be recorded, and no property shall be sold referenced to the map or plat, until and unless it has been first submitted to and approved by the municipal planning commission, pursuant to Section 11-52-32 and its adopted procedures, and then certified by the county engineer or his or her designee as follows within 30 days of being submitted to the county engineer: “The undersigned, as County Engineer of the County of _________ of Alabama, hereby certifies on this ______ day of _____, 20___, that the _____________ Planning Commission approved the within plat for the recording of same in the Probate Office of _________ County, Alabama.”
(l) Approval by the county engineer pursuant to this subsection shall not constitute approval in lieu of or on behalf of any municipality with respect to subdivision development regulated and enforced by the municipal planning commission, wherein all maps or plats must be first submitted to and approved by the municipal planning commission or other appropriate municipal agency exercising jurisdiction over the subdivision.
(m) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as allowing a municipal planning commission or a municipality to exercise the power of eminent domain outside of its corporate limits.
(n) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as allowing a municipal planning commission or a municipality to levy taxes or fees in its planning jurisdiction outside of its corporate limits, except for those fees relating to the regulation of subdivisions.
(o) Nothing in this section shall limit or impair the authority of a municipality to regulate the construction of buildings within the police jurisdiction of the municipality as provided in Section 11-40-10.
(p) Nothing in this section shall be construed to grant the county commission or county engineer the authority to regulate subdivision development or approve maps or plats for any developments within the corporate limits of a municipality.
(q) Act 2021-297 does not affect any public or private contracts, or any mutual aid agreements between law enforcement, fire service, public safety, or emergency service agencies.

Legislative History

(Acts 1935, No. 534, p. 1126; Code 1940, T. 37, §797; Acts 1949, No. 421, p. 597; Acts 1959, No. 296, p. 868, §1; Act 2009-498, p. 921, §1; Act 2012-297, p. 637, §1; Act 2015-361, p. 1101, §1; Act 2021-297, §§2, 4.)