Central Missouri Oil Co. v. City of St. James

• Decision Date: 07 December 1937
• Parties: CENTRAL MISSOURI OIL COMPANY, A CORPORATION, ET AL., APPELLANTS v. CITY OF ST. JAMES, MISSOURI, RESPONDENT
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

111 S.W.2d 215

232 Mo.App. 142

CENTRAL MISSOURI OIL COMPANY, A CORPORATION, ET AL., APPELLANTS v. CITY OF ST. JAMES, MISSOURI, RESPONDENT

Court of Appeals of Missouri, Springfield

December 7, 1937

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Howell County.--Hon. Will H. D Green, Judge.

AFFIRMED.

Judgment affirmed.

E. W Allison for appellants.

Ivan L Rinehart and Breuer & Northern for respondent.

FULBRIGHT, J. Allen, P. J., and Smith, J., concur.

OPINION

FULBRIGHT, J.

This is an action in equity to test the validity and reasonableness of a city ordinance extending the limits of the City of St. James, a municipality of the fourth class. Plaintiffs' petition was filed in the circuit court of Phelps county, returnable to the September, 1935, term thereof. Defendant filed its answer, and thereafter at said term of court the venue in said cause was changed to Howell county. On the 10th day of February, 1936, in said Howell county circuit court the cause was tried by the court, and at the close of all the evidence and after argument of counsel, the court took the cause under advisement until the next regular June term, 1936, of said court. On the 17th day of June, 1936, defendant filed its first amended answer, and on the 25th day of June, 1936, and during the regular term of court aforesaid, the court made its written finding of fact and its separate conclusions of law in said cause, and judgment was made in accordance therewith in favor of defendant and against the plaintiffs. Thereupon plaintiffs filed a motion for a new trial which was overruled, and an appeal was duly taken to this court.

For convenience, we shall refer to appellants as plaintiffs, and to respondent as defendant.

The petition states, in substance, that the Central Missouri Oil Company, one of the plaintiffs, is a corporation; that the defendant, City of St. James, is a city of the fourth class; and that by ordinance No. 108, passed and approved July 1, 1935, said city ordered the limits thereof extended. The petition set out, verbatim, the description of the outbounding lines proposed in said ordinance, and the proposition was submitted to the qualified voters at a special election July 23, 1935. The result of the election in favor of extension of the corporate limits of defendant was declared in ordinance No. 109 passed and approved August 5, 1935, and in which ordinance the description of the outbounding lines was set out in full. Plaintiffs further state that each of them owns real estate within the proposed extension which consists of approximately fifty acres; specifically deny every reasonable and proper ground for extending the city limits, maintaining that whatever value the real estate of plaintiffs possesses is for grazing and/or gardening purposes, or as the location for country homes, or for filling station and restaurant and tourist cabin business by virtue of the fact that same is located on U.S. Highway No. 66, a paved and state maintained highway. Plaintiffs plead that they would receive no benefits by the extension that they do not already enjoy; that electric light and power service is extended by a private corporation; that such residents as have the use of water supplied by the municipal water plant have at their own expense laid, built and constructed their own private water lines to connect with the water mains of said city; that the sole purpose for annexing the territory set out in the petition was, and is, to subject the real estate and the residents thereof to city taxation, and that no possible benefits can inure to plaintiffs or others similarly situated. Plaintiffs state that ordinances Nos. 108 and 109 attempting to extend the limits of the City of St. James are unconscionable, oppressive, unreasonable and unjust; that the officers and agents of the city are demanding payment of municipal license fees upon businesses of certain plaintiffs and upon the owners of vehicles residing on the annexed territory, and are threatening prosecution for failure to pay same; that city taxes on real estate in the annexed territory have been levied and assessed; that the city will attempt to collect such taxes; that said levy and assessment constitute a cloud on said real estate; and that the City of St. James is exercising acts of municipal authority under and by virtue of the ordinances aforesaid, which authority is unauthorized and without foundation in law. Plaintiffs state that they have no adequate remedy at law; that ordinance No. 109 is void; and pray the court for relief.

Defendant, in its answer, admits the following: That it is a corporation; the passage of ordinances Nos. 108 and 109; that it is exercising corporate jurisdiction over the new limits as extended, and that it has undertaken and will undertake to levy and collect taxes; but denies generally the other allegations in plaintiffs' petition.

Ordinance No. 108, the purpose of which was the extension of the boundary lines of the city, was passed and approved July 1, 1935. The description in this ordinance has an omission of one of the sides of the ball park. The proposition to extend the limits of the city was voted upon and the extension approved, the vote being 273 for and 116 against. Ordinance No. 109 was then passed declaring the result of the election, and in addition, undertook to restate the new city limits as provided for in ordinance No. 108. Ordinance No. 109 clearly described the line around the ball park, but omitted a portion of the description of the extension line on the west side.

It is observed from plaintiffs' exhibit No. 9, purporting to be a map of St. James, that the new territory proposed to be taken in by ordinance No. 108 is in three separate and distinct parcels. The parcel extending in an easterly direction includes a portion of what is known as Lynna Heights. This territory is defined by a line beginning at Pace's Second Addition on Jefferson Street and running in an easterly direction with a sufficient jog to take in the city sewage plant to a point approximately two blocks in the platted district known as Lynna Heights, east of the Red Bird road, thence south to the right-of-way of the Frisco railroad, thence westerly along said right-of-way to the Red Bird road, then still west with the Frisco railroad right-of-way to the center line of Section 20, thence south across the railroad to the center of Section 20, returning to the old city limits line.

The next parcel to be described as part of the annexed territory is the ball park, and in attempting to surround the ball park, as disclosed by ordinance No. 108, the call covering the east side was omitted. The ball park abuts the old city limits line, the description of the ball park in the said ordinance being as follows: "Thence east 500.00 feet along north side of Ball Park to pin; thence West 398.0 feet along South side of Ball Park to pin; thence N. 29 degrees 10 minutes W. 200.5 feet to pin (which is 365.0 feet South of N.W. Corner of Ball Park); then South on old City limits line."

The territory to the west included in the extension is defined by a line which begins at a point on the old city limits line, a short distance from Aida Street, surrounds the territory intended to be included, and finds its way back to the old city limits on Prairie Street.

Exhibit No. 9 shows that the survey for the proposition to extend the city limits begins on Jefferson Street which borders what is designated Pace's Second Addition on the west. There is no record of an ordinance making Pace's Second Addition a part of the city, and no record evidence to that effect. Oral testimony tended to show that said addition was taken into the city in 1908 by ordinance No. 65, and that the proper legal steps were taken in submitting the proposition to the people.

After the plaintiffs attempted to prove that Pace's Second Addition is not legally a part of the city of St. James, and after parol evidence was admitted to dispute the allegations and proof of plaintiffs, in regard thereto, the defendant filed an amended answer to conform to the proof; alleging that the territory intended to be annexed is contiguous to the limits of the city as extended; that the point of beginning in extension ordinance No. 108 was on the east line of Pace's Second Addition; that said addition is within the corporate limits of St. James; said city having exercised full municipal control over same for more than twenty-five years; that no inhabitant of said addition is a party to this suit; and that the inhabitants of said addition participate in city activities and affairs, pay city taxes, claim to be within the limits of said city; and that all persons are now estopped to deny that they are within the corporate limits of said city and that said Pace's Second Addition is a part of the corporate territory of said city.

Among other things, the trial court found that the description of the outbounding lines of the proposed new city limits extension as set out in ordinance No. 108, and the territory to be included therein, begins on, and is adjacent and contiguous to, the then city limits; that Pace's Second Addition to the city of St. James extends up to Jefferson Street, adjacent and contiguous to the point of beginning of the new proposed territory; that all of the territory proposed to be taken in by the extension at issue is adjacent and contiguous to the old city limits, and that such extension is not unreasonable; that although there is a manifest omission in the description of the new line, as it passes around the ball park, as shown in ordinance No. 108 yet, there is sufficient data from which the omission can be easily supplied and the description thereby rendered certain; and that the description, as contained in...