Extension of Boundaries of City of Ridgeland v. City of Ridgeland, 92-CA-00801-SCT

• Decision Date: 23 February 1995
• Docket Number: No. 92-CA-00801-SCT,92-CA-00801-SCT
• Citation: 651 So.2d 548
• Parties: In the Matter of the EXTENSION OF the BOUNDARIES OF the CITY OF RIDGELAND, Mississippi: City of Jackson, Mississippi v. CITY OF RIDGELAND, Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 548

651 So.2d 548

In the Matter of the EXTENSION OF the BOUNDARIES OF the CITY

OF RIDGELAND, Mississippi: City of Jackson, Mississippi v. CITY OF RIDGELAND, Mississippi.

No. 92-CA-00801-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Feb. 23, 1995.

Douglas J. Gunn, Watkins & Eager, Jackson, William F. Goodman Jr., Watkins & Eager, Jackson, for appellant.

Jerry R. Wallace, Wallace & Associates, Ridgeland, Jerry L. Mills, Pyle Dreher Mills & Dye, Jackson, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, C.J., and JAMES L. ROBERTS, Jr. and SMITH, JJ.

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

The Mayor and Board of Alderman of Ridgeland (Ridgeland) at their regular meeting on May 1, 1990, adopted an ordinance extending and enlarging the corporate limits of the city. The Board of Directors of the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District voted unanimously to approve Ridgeland's proposed expansion, provided the District would retain exclusive jurisdiction over the adoption and enforcement of the land use development policy, zoning, the water/sewer and waste disposal systems, and other such matters. The District withheld approval of the annexation in areas around the Reservoir which excluded several subdivisions and the Jackson Yacht Club.

In June of 1990, the City of Ridgeland, Mississippi, filed a petition for annexation in the Chancery Court of Madison County. Ridgeland sought to annex 6.8 square miles consisting of two separate tracts, one to its east and one to its west. The City of Jackson, (Jackson) appellant herein, filed a written objection to the proposed annexation. Jackson alleged that the attempted annexation was unreasonable as unnecessary to Chancery Judge George Warner was appointed by this Court as Special Chancellor to preside in this case after the Madison County chancellors recused themselves.

Ridgeland and permanently detrimental to Jackson's path of growth.

Ridgeland presented its case beginning on June 15, 1991. Thereafter, Jackson's motion to exclude Ridgeland's evidence and to dismiss was for the most part, denied. Jackson presented its case, relying primarily upon this Court's decision in Matter of Boundaries of City of Jackson, 551 So.2d 861 (Miss.1989). Jackson's renewed motions to exclude and to dismiss were denied. On June 25, 1992, Chancellor Warner ruled the annexation of the majority of the area sought by Ridgeland was reasonable and would be approved. Such partial approval is specifically authorized under Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 21-1-33 (1972).

Jackson perfected its appeal to this Court on August 6, 1992, again primarily relying on Matter of Boundaries of City of Jackson, arguing that the chancellor should have undertaken a "heightened scrutiny" and that the "substantial adverse impact on Jackson mandates reversal." Further facts are presented as necessary. Five issues for review are submitted:

I. WHETHER OR NOT THE LOWER COURT'S DETERMINATION THAT THE ANNEXATION WAS REASONABLE WAS ERRONEOUSLY GROUNDED ON LEGAL CONCLUSIONS WHICH MISSTATE THE APPROPRIATE LEGAL STANDARD IN ANNEXATION CASES.

II. WHETHER OR NOT THE LOWER COURT CORRECTLY APPLIED THE STANDARD OF CITY OF JACKSON V. CITY OF RIDGELAND, 551 So.2d 861 (Miss.1989) TO RIDGELAND'S ANNEXATION.

III. WHETHER OR NOT THE LOWER COURT ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW IN FAILING TO EXAMINE THE CONTRIBUTION OF JACKSON TO RIDGELAND'S GROWTH IN EVALUATING WHETHER THE NEED TO EXPAND AND PATH OF GROWTH INDICIA WERE MET.

IV. WHETHER OR NOT THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT RIDGELAND HAD A NEED TO EXPAND WHEN THE PROPOSED ANNEXATION DOES NOT MEET THIS PROFESSED NEED TO EXPAND.

V. WHETHER BASIC PRINCIPLES OF EQUITY, FAIRNESS AND PUBLIC POLICY, AS IDENTIFIED BY THIS COURT, REQUIRE REVERSAL OF THE LOWER COURT RULING.

Under the standard of review applicable to annexation cases, the lower court committed no reversible error. The chancellor applied the correct standards and reached a result supported by the record. As the record contains no manifest error, this Court affirms the decision approving the majority of the areas originally sought to be annexed.

DISCUSSION

I. WHETHER OR NOT THE LOWER COURT'S DETERMINATION THAT THE ANNEXATION WAS REASONABLE WAS ERRONEOUSLY GROUNDED ON LEGAL CONCLUSIONS WHICH MISSTATE THE APPROPRIATE LEGAL STANDARD IN ANNEXATION CASES.

II. WHETHER OR NOT THE LOWER COURT CORRECTLY APPLIED THE STANDARD OF CITY OF JACKSON V. CITY OF RIDGELAND, 551 So.2d 861 (Miss.1989) TO RIDGELAND'S ANNEXATION.

Jackson contends that the chancellor erred in application of the twelve indicia of reasonableness which this Court has set forth as a guide to chancellors' consideration of annexation cases. Jackson argues that a consideration of the last of the traditional twelve indicia of reasonableness, the indicia of "other factors affecting reasonableness," must be accorded greater weight than the This Court has stated:

                remaining indicia.  Further, Jackson suggests a heightened scrutiny of the proposed annexation must be undertaken such that annexation should be disallowed unless a city can demonstrate a clear, "overriding need" to annex the areas sought.  Jackson contends that consideration of the "other factors" in this case, and most significantly the "substantial adverse impact" on Jackson, mandates reversal.  Jackson's entire argument is based on this Court's decision in Matter of Boundaries of City of Jackson, 551 So.2d 861 (Miss.1989), (hereinafter, "City of Jackson" ).   Jackson contends Chancellor Warner's failure to apply this Court's conclusion that the "other factors indicia," was of "greatest significance," requires reversal
                

In a series of cases beginning with Dodd v. City of Jackson, 238 Miss. 372, 396-97, 118 So.2d 319, 330 (1960) down through most recently McElhaney v. City of Horn Lake, 501 So.2d 401, 403-04, (Miss.1987) and City of Greenville v. Farmers, Inc., 513 So.2d 932, 941 (Miss.1987), we have recognized at least eight indicia of reasonableness. These include (1) the municipality's need for expansion, (2) whether the area sought to be annexed is reasonably within a path of growth of the city, (3) the potential health hazards from sewage and waste disposal in the annexed areas, (4) the municipality's financial ability to make the improvements and furnish municipal services promised, (5) the need for zoning and overall planning in the area, (6) the need for municipal services in the area sought to be annexed, (7) whether there are natural barriers between the city and the proposed annexation area, and (8) the past performance and time element involved in the city's provision of services to its present residents.

Other judicially recognized indicia of reasonableness include (9) the impact (economic or otherwise) of the annexation upon those who live in or own property in the area proposed for annexation; Western Line [Consol. v. City of Greenville, 465 So.2d 1057, 1059 (1985) ]; (10) the impact of the annexation upon the voting strength of protected minority groups, Enlargement of Boundaries of Yazoo City [v. Yazoo City, 452 So.2d 837 at 842-43 (1984) ]; (11) whether the property owners and other inhabitants of the areas sought to be annexed have in the past, and for the foreseeable future unless annexed will, because of their reasonable proximity to the corporate limits of the municipality, enjoy the (economic and social) benefits of proximity to the municipality without paying their fair share of the taxes, Texas Gas Transmission Corp. v. City of Greenville, 242 So.2d 686, 689 (Miss.1971); Forbes v. Mayor & Board of Alderman of City of Meridian, 86 Miss. 243, 38 So. 676 (1905); and (12) any other factors that may suggest reasonableness vel non. Bassett v. Town of Taylorsville, 542 So.2d 918, 921 (Miss.1989).

In the Matter of the Enlargement and Extension of the Municipal Boundaries of the City of Madison, Mississippi: The City of Jackson, Mississippi v. City of Madison, 650 So.2d 490 (Miss.1995) (hereinafter, "City of Jackson v. City of Madison" ): In the Matter of the Extension of the Boundaries of the City of Columbus, Mississippi: Kenneth R. Robinson, Walter J. Cunningham, Ralph Edward Hall, J.B. Wilkins, Arnette Neil Beard, and Ed Markham v. City of Columbus, Mississippi, 644 So.2d 1168 (hereinafter, "City of Columbus" ); City of Jackson, 551 So.2d at 864; See also, Bassett v. Town of Taylorsville, 542 So.2d 918, 921-22 (Miss.1989).

Chancellor Warner issued a lengthy opinion centered around the traditional twelve indicia of reasonableness and focusing particularly on this Court's opinion in its then most recent annexation decision of City of Jackson. The chancellor clearly understood the standard to be applied in this annexation matter and his task of looking at the "totality of the circumstances." As to Jackson's argument before this Court that the decision in City of Jackson somehow changed the standard in annexation cases, the chancellor wrote:

The excellent attorneys representing Jackson, in essence, have told this court that our Supreme Court has said, in the afore cited case, "whatever Jackson want * * * * * *

                Jackson gets."   Naturally, the attorneys for Ridgeland disagree
                

Again, quoting Justice Robertson: "This is not an ordinary annexation case. Much more is at stake ... We must decide whether Mississippi's largest and Capital City, already landlocked by a plethora of bedroom communities, will have another nail driven in the coffin, which, if closed, will doom it to the fate already experienced by so many central cities around the nation. It is patently unreasonable that this should occur." Beautiful prose, but in that case, Jackson held the white pawn and made the first move. I cannot find that our Court intended anything other than the annexation sought by Jackson was proper. I cannot believe that our Court attempted to enter the Legislative field by defining and declaring that our Capital City can call all the shots, in all the areas, forever--if those areas are anywhere near the City of Jackson. Our law doesn't say...