Extension of Boundaries of Horn Lake v. Renfro

• Decision Date: 29 November 1978
• Docket Number: No. 50953,50953
• Citation: 365 So.2d 623
• Parties: In the Matter of the EXTENSION OF the BOUNDARIES OF HORN LAKE, Mississippi v. Will RENFRO et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 623

365 So.2d 623

In the Matter of the EXTENSION OF the BOUNDARIES OF HORN LAKE, Mississippi v. Will RENFRO et al.

No. 50953.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Nov. 29, 1978.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 10, 1979.

Watkins, Pyle, Ludlam, Winter & Stennis, Jackson, Ronald L. Taylor, Southaven, L. Arnold Pyle, C. York Craig, Jr., Reynolds & Mockbee, Jackson, for appellant.

Freeland & Gafford, T. H. Freeland, III, G. O. Griffith, Jr., Joe D. Pegram, Oxford, for appellees.

Before SMITH, P. J., and WALKER and BROOM, JJ.

WALKER, Justice, for the Court:

This is an annexation case. Horn Lake, city with approximately 4,300 in population within a 1,998 acre tract attempted to annex the Southaven Utility District which has a population of approximately 17,330 within an 8,595.5 acre tract. The Chancery Court of DeSoto County held that Horn Lake failed to prove that the annexation was reasonable. We agree.

The sole issue presented is whether the chancellor's findings of fact were manifestly wrong or clearly against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. City of Biloxi v. Cawley, 332 So.2d 749 (Miss.1976); City of Picayune v. Quick & Grice, Inc., 238 Miss. 429, 117 So.2d 718 (1960).

Mississippi Code Annotated section 21-1-33 (1972) provides the law on annexation hearings:

If the chancellor finds from the evidence presented at such hearing that the proposed enlargement or contraction is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity and, in the event of an enlargement of a municipality, that reasonable public and municipal services will be rendered in the annexed territory within a reasonable time, the chancellor shall enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the proposed enlargement or contraction, and describing the boundaries of the municipality as altered. In so doing the chancellor shall have the right and the power to modify the proposed enlargement or contraction by decreasing the territory to be included in or excluded from such municipality, as the case may be. If the chancellor shall find from the evidence that the proposed enlargement or contraction, as the case may be, is unreasonable and is not required by the public convenience and necessity, then he shall enter a decree denying such enlargement or contraction. In any event, the decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten days from the date thereof or, in event an appeal is taken therefrom, within ten days from the final determination of such appeal. In any proceeding under this section the burden shall be upon the municipal authorities to show that the proposed enlargement or contraction is reasonable.

The other pertinent law is that part of Senate Bill 1520 (1967) (1967 Miss.Laws, Chap. 45 (Priv.L. Vol.)) which provides:

None of the territory lying within (the Southaven Utility District) shall be subject to annexation by any municipality, or incorporated within a municipality unless all of the territory of the District shall be so annexed or incorporated at one time, in which event the assets of the District shall be transferred to the municipality and the municipality shall assume the operation and maintenance of the facilities of the District, and shall assume all liabilities and obligations of the District.

The criteria to be applied in cases of this nature is well established. The general criteria has been established as: (1) The municipality's need for expansion; (2) Whether the area sought to be annexed is reasonably within the path of growth of the city; (3) The potential health hazards from sewage and waste disposal in the annexed area; (4) The municipality's financial ability to make the improvements and furnish municipal services promised. Lowe v. City of Jackson, 336 So.2d 490 (Miss.1976); Bridges v. City of Biloxi, 253 Miss. 812, 178 So.2d 683 (1965); Dodd v. City of Jackson, 238 Miss. 372, 118 So.2d 319 (1960).

Other factors that have been considered by the Court are: (5) The need for zoning and overall planning in the area; (6) The need for municipal services in the area sought to be annexed. Smith v. City of Meridian, 237 Miss. 486, 115 So.2d 323 (1959); (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. City of Biloxi v. Cawley, 332 So.2d 749 (Miss.1976).

We have held that the burden of proving reasonableness as measured by these criteria is upon the petitioner, here, Horn Lake. Dodd v. City of Jackson, 238 Miss. 372, 118 So.2d 319 (1960).

The chancellor found that Horn Lake had not met its burden of proof. He went on to specifically find that Horn Lake had no existing need for expansion, that the Horn Lake Creek Flood Plain was a natural barrier between the areas, and that the area proposed to be annexed presently had adequate public services. There was sufficient evidence to support the chancellor's findings and we cannot say the decision was manifestly wrong or clearly erroneous. ¹

I.

The chancellor found...