AL Supreme Court Holds Fire Authority Did Not Qualify as a Body Entitled to an Exemption From Zoning Regulation

This post was authored by Matthew Loeser, Esq.
W.R. Meriwether, Factors and Drayage, LLC, and Gregory P. Thompson each owned parcels of real property that adjoined a 10-acre piece of property owned by the Fire Authority. All three parcels were located in the Town of Pike Road. Pursuant to a Pike Road zoning ordinance, the parcels were located in an area zoned for “low density, single-family residential development.” After the Fire Authority planned to build a fire station on its 10-acre parcel, Meriwether and Thompson sought a judgment declaring that the Fire Authority was subject to the referenced zoning ordinance and that constructing a fire station on its property would be a violation of that ordinance. In this case, Meriwether and Thompson appealed from adverse judgments entered by the Montgomery Circuit Court.
On appeal, appellees’ claimed that because the Fire Authority engaged in functions that could be described as traditionally “governmental” in nature, it was a governing body or political subdivision for purposes of the exemption from the zoning ordinance. The court found that although the members of the Fire Authority’s board of directors were chosen by the Montgomery County Commission, they could not be officers of the state or of any county or municipality, but were instead required to be “duly qualified electors of the county. Moreover, the legislature would have specifically granted the exemption from zoning regulation if it intended to do so, given the significance of a blanket exemption from zoning regulation that would have resulted in the unfettered use and development of property without regard to a comprehensive land-use plan. Absent a specific exemption from zoning regulation, the court held the Fire Authority was required to comply with the zoning ordinance affecting the property it possessed.
As the Fire Authority did not qualify as a body entitled to an exemption from zoning regulation, the court reversed the trial court’s judgments and remanded the case for further proceedings.
W.R. Meriwether, Factors and Drayage, LLC v. Pike Road, 2019 WL 2482324 (AL 6/14/2019)