Fairfax County v. City of Alexandria, 3867

• Decision Date: 03 December 1951
• Docket Number: No. 3867,3867
• Citation: 68 S.E.2d 101,193 Va. 82
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: COUNTY OF FAIRFAX v. CITY OF ALEXANDRIA. Record

Page 101

68 S.E.2d 101

193 Va. 82

COUNTY OF FAIRFAX v. CITY OF ALEXANDRIA.

Record No. 3867.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia

December 3, 1951.

Robert J. McCandlish, Jr. and Hugh B. Marsh, for the appellant.

Horace H. Edwards, V. Floyd Williams, Armistead L. Boothe and William W. Koontz, for the appellees.

JUDGE: HUDGINS

HUDGINS, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court.

The county of Fairfax obtained this appeal from an order entered by a three-judge court, composed of Walter T. McCarthy, judge of the Thirty-fifth Judicial Circuit, Jeff F. Walter, judge of the Thirty-first Judicial Circuit, and Paul E. Brown, resident judge. The order annexed to the city of Alexandria that part of the territory of Fairfax county described therein, defined the terms and conditions of annexation, and required the city to assume that proportion of the existing indebtedness of the county, and its subdivisions, that the court deemed fair and just.

Five hundred and seventy citizens, or freeholders, living, or having an interest, in the territory proposed to be annexed, opposed the annexation, and were made parties defendant. Ninety-one other parties, similarly situated, favored annexation and, on request, were made parties. None of the parties opposing annexation joined the county in the appeal. All those favoring annexation filed a brief in support of the final decree.

The record (comprising 748 printed pages, 116 exhibits, consisting of maps, tables, charts, and numerous pages of typewritten and printed matter) is so voluminous that only that part of the evidence pertinent to the contentions of the parties will be discussed.

The main questions raised by the sixteen assignments of error are: (1) whether the evidence sustains the court's finding that the annexation of the territory was necessary and expedient; (2) whether the conditions imposed upon the city for the future management and improvement of the territory were reasonable and fair; (3) whether the court had authority to annex a part of a sanitary district; and (4) whether the court required the city to assume a fair and just proportion of the existing indebtedness of the county and its political subdivisions.

Section 2958 of the Code of 1919 (Sec. 15-135 of the Code of 1950), requiring an annexation court to ascertain and determine the question of necessity for and expediency of annexation, was amended in 1948. (Acts 1948, p. 589) This amendment enumerates the elements to be considered by the court in ascertaining and determining the necessity for and expediency of annexation by use of the following italicized language:

'Such court * * * shall ascertain and determine the necessity for and expediency of annexation, (1) considering the best interests of the county, (2) the city * * * (3) services to be rendered and the needs of the area proposed to be annexed and (4) the best interest of the remaining portion of the county * * *.'

The four elements to be considered in this case are: (1) the city of Alexandria; (2) the area to be annexed; (3) the county of Fairfax before, and after, annexation; and (4) the needs of the respective areas and the proposed governmental services to be rendered.

Alexandria is an old and historic city. Its corporate limits were last extended in 1930, which gave it an area of 7-1/3 square miles, and a population of 24,159. The population in 1940 was 33,523, and in 1950 61,601, an increase of 83% in the last ten years. There are few vacant lots suitable for industrial or residential sites in the present corporate limits. Studies made by the Harvard University show that there is only half as much vacant space in Alexandria as is in comparable American cities.

The rate of taxation in the city is reasonable. The finances of the city are well managed. It is so organized and managed that it furnishes all the normal and modern governmental services and benefits usually furnished by a well organized, modern urban community. These services include a scientific master plan for the grading of streets, sidewalks, zoning, construction and maintenance of public buildings, parks and recreational centers. The city has a modern public school system, including adequate and commodious buildings and equipment, and a full corps of well qualified instructors in the various departments of the schools; a modern, scientific department of health, adequate police and fire protection, and it makes proper provisions for the lighting of streets, maintenance of sewers and removal of garbage and trash.

On May 10, 1950, the board of supervisors of Fairfax county issued an official statement concerning the sale of $3,000,000 of sewer bonds for Sanitary District No. 1, in which the county is thus described: 'The County's 417 square miles in area are in large part devoted to agricultural pursuits, with dairy farming being the principal activity. There is, however, a large portion of the County which is a strictly residential suburb of the Washington Metropolitan area. The primary source of employment for the population is the Federal Government in Washington, D.C., although some employment is afforded in the nearby communities of the County of Arlington and the City of Alexandria.'

The increase of population in the county is comparable to that of Alexandria. In 1930 its population was 25,264; in 1940 40,929, and in 1950 105,722. The estimated assessed value of its taxable property for the year 1950 was $77,000,000.

The form of government of the county is similar to that prevailing in most of the counties in the Commonwealth. It is adequate to meet the normal needs of a rural community.

While the county introduced evidence tending to show that it furnished its inhabitants with some of the governmental services furnished by Alexandria to its inhabitants, a comparison of the services furnished by the county with those furnished by the city shows that the services provided by the city are far superior to those provided by the county.

The territory proposed to be annexed comprises approximately 7.65 square miles. It has 11,000 inhabitants, most of whom moved within the area during the two years next preceding the institution of this suit. Only 7% of the area (or 343 acres of the 4896 acres in the area) is subdivided. In the area there are 540 separate dwellings and 2447 apartment units, making a total of 2987 dwelling units. The other part of the area is undeveloped and to a large extent unoccupied, but is well adapted for use as business or residential sites.

The existing subdivisions were not made with any plan of developing the whole territory. The different owners subdivided their lands into lots without regard to an over-all plan for the entire area. The result is that there is no uniform grading of streets, many of which do not form connecting links with other streets or highways. The county has no master plan for developing this area. It does not propose to grade, build or light the streets and sidewalks in the area.

If and when the area is annexed the remaining portion of the county will contain approximately 409.35 square miles, a population of approximately 94,000, and approximately $72,238,000 of taxable property values.

The county contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the finding of the court that annexation is necessary and expedient. This contention is based on three main grounds: (1) the area proposed to be annexed, as well as the city of Alexandria, the counties of Arlington and Fairfax, is a part of the metropolitan area of the District of Columbia, and not a part of the metropolitan area of Alexandria; (2) there is no community of interest between the area sought to be annexed and Alexandria; (3) most of the area sought to be annexed is undeveloped.

It is true that the two named counties and the city are a part of the large metropolitan area of the District of Columbia. This is true of a part of the State of Maryland and other parts of Virginia. The enormous, almost feverish, increase in the activities of the Federal government in and around Washington has resulted in the growth and development of the area within the District of Columbia as well as the areas adjacent thereto. To meet the problems presented by the enormous increase in population in these areas, Congress has appropriated various sums to aid in public education, including the construction of school buildings. Both Alexandria and Fairfax have received their proportionate shares of the sums so appropriated.

The Congress and the General Assembly of Virginia, as well as other departments of both the State and the Federal governments, have assisted the respective localities in solving some of the difficult problems presented by this unprecedented increase in population. These facts are not controlling upon the court in ascertaining and determining the necessity for and expediency of annexation.

The area sought to be annexed is in the direction that the city has grown since its last annexation in 1930. Both the city and the area are affected by the impact of the metropolitan urbanization. As heretofore stated, more than 11,000 people have moved into the area in the last two years. Numerous buildings are being constructed, and many others contemplated, to accommodate the increasing demands for business houses and dwelling units. Many occupants of the area work in Washington, but they have become citizens, or residents, of Virginia, and as such are compelled to share in the responsibilities imposed by the laws of the Commonwealth, and are entitled to share in the benefits to be derived, whether such benefits are derived from the laws of a rural or urban community.

The overflow of population into the area proposed to be annexed is due, in a large measure, to the activities centered in and around Washington; hence the community of interest between the area and the city is not so close as is usually the case between a city and the territory adjacent thereto. ...