Rockingham County v. City of Harrisonburg

• Decision Date: 09 September 1982
• Docket Number: No. 812007,812007
• Citation: 294 S.E.2d 825,224 Va. 62
• Parties: COUNTY OF ROCKINGHAM v. CITY OF HARRISONBURG. Record
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 825

294 S.E.2d 825

224 Va. 62

COUNTY OF ROCKINGHAM v. CITY OF HARRISONBURG.

Record No. 812007.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

Sept. 9, 1982.

Robert C. Fitzgerald, Fairfax (George R. Aldhizer, Jr., County Atty., Myron C. Smith, Fitzgerald & Smith, P.C., Fairfax, on briefs), for appellant.

William R. Cogar, Richmond (Norvell A. Lapsley, City Atty., Harrisonburg, Henry T. Wickham, Carter Glass, IV, Mays, Valentine, Davenport & Moore, Richmond, on brief), for appellee.

(George R. St. John, County Atty., James M. Bowling, IV, Deputy County Atty., on brief), for amicus curiae Counties of Albemarle, Augusta, Campbell and Prince George.

Before CARRICO, C.J., COCHRAN, POFF, COMPTON, THOMPSON and RUSSELL, JJ., and HARRISON, Retired Justice.

POFF, Justice.

The County of Rockingham appeals from an order annexing approximately 11.64 square miles of its area to the City of Harrisonburg. We granted the appeal for the opportunity it provides to examine the 1979 amendments to the annexation statutes. Acts 1979, c. 85 (hereinafter, the 1979 Act). We affirm the decision of the annexation court.

In May 1975, the City petitioned to annex approximately 14 square miles of the County. The action was stayed for the duration of the "moratorium" on annexation imposed by the General Assembly. Code § 15.1-1032.1(A). The moratorium was terminated effective July 1, 1980, and the annexation court referred the matter to the Commission on Local Government. Code § 15.1-1170.

That Commission's report recommended annexation with certain limitations and upon certain conditions. The final order, entered September 1, 1981, approved annexation of 11.64 square miles, effective midnight December 31, 1981. The order was suspended pending this appeal.

I. Background Facts

The City, which has a population of 19,671, presently occupies 5.9 square miles. Operating under a council-manager form of government, it employs 630 employees, including 30 police officers and 12 full-time firefighters. Fire protection service is supplemented by numerous volunteers.

The City provides water to its residents and to 478 customers in the area sought for annexation. It has several large sources of water, including Rawley Springs, Silver Lake, North River, and the Shenandoah River. It provides sewerage collection service for its residents. Sewerage treatment is furnished by a regional authority in which both the City and the County are partners.

The City finances construction and maintenance of streets, curbs, gutters, storm drains, and street lighting. The City collects garbage from residences twice weekly. It owns a taxicab company and operates a small, fixed-route bus system. It operates a well-developed recreational system, consisting of approximately 250 acres of park land. The City is the seat of the County government, and many of the County's 1,143 full-time employees work in the City.

The County, with seven incorporated towns, occupies 865 square miles, 32% of which is private mountain land or national forest. Its population is approximately 56,000. The County is the leading producer of agricultural and dairy products in the state. Over 63% of its farm income is derived from poultry.

The County provides water service to several developed areas outside the City and the towns. Most of this water is purchased from the City. Fire protection is provided chiefly by volunteers with the County's financial support. The County owns no fire-fighting equipment but employs eight full-time firefighters, four of whom are stationed at a firehouse in the City. Law enforcement is provided by 20 deputy sheriffs. Seventeen state police officers are stationed in the County. The crime rate in the County is lower than that in the City.

The County operates a landfill. Garbage is collected by private contractors. Road construction and maintenance and snow removal services are provided by the Commonwealth. The County provides no curbs, gutters, storm sewers, sidewalks, or street lighting except in one residential subdivision.

The annexed area has a population of 4,607. It contains about 13% of the County's property tax assessed values. The County's total taxable property was assessed at over one billion dollars in 1980. The annexed area, which almost entirely surrounds the City, contains the County's only shopping mall, the County's only large supermarket, all the County's major motels, and 97.9% of the County's water customers. More than 200 commercial and industrial firms, many of which migrated from the City, are situate in the annexed area. The area contains five major residential subdivisions. Yet, 58% of the annexed area consists of open pastures, woodlands, or croplands.

In addition to the area annexed, the City sought to annex approximately 2.5 square miles lying southwest of the City. This area, which came to be known as Study Area 3, was adjacent to the Town of Dayton, and the Commission on Local Government recommended that it remain in the County as a buffer zone between the City and the Town. The annexation court concurred and omitted Study Area 3 from the annexed area. ¹

II. The 1979 Act

Relations among units of local government pose problems of continuing concern to the General Assembly. Different people in different communities have different needs for different reasons. Government seldom has sufficient resources to provide all it would like to give its citizens and never all they would like to receive. Necessarily needs and means must be balanced and compromises must be reached. How well local governments succeed in promoting the common weal depends in large part upon how they are organized and how they interact with their neighbors.

Relations between cities and counties became so strained in 1971 that the General Assembly created the Commission on City-County Relationships to study the problem and, pending the study, imposed a moratorium on annexations of counties by cities and upon incorporation or consolidation of cities. Acts 1971, c. 234. ² The Commission reported its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly in January 1975. The report was published as House Document No. 27 (hereinafter, H. Doc. 27). We find this report particularly helpful in our analysis because many of its recommendations were enacted into law as part of the 1979 Act. A portion of the report is quoted in the margin. ³

Recognizing that many modern counties are willing and able to provide a full array of urban services, the Commission recommended limitations on the cities' power to annex. The principal recommendation was to grant densely populated counties which provide urban services an immunity from annexation and from incorporation of cities from within. In the 1979 Act, this proposal, modified somewhat, became Code §§ 15.1-977.19:1 et seq. The Commission also recommended that such counties be permitted to incorporate as cities. This recommendation was also adopted by the legislature. Code §§ 15.1-977.1 et seq.

As an alternative to "territorial expansion of cities", the 1979 Act provided for "economic growth sharing", an arrangement by which a city may relinquish its authority to annex in return for a county's agreement "to share in the benefits of the economic growth of their jurisdictions". Code §§ 15.1-1166, -1167. Cooperation among local governments for provision of services was encouraged in § 15.1-1166(B) and in § 15.1-1041(b1)(v).

Another significant change made by the 1979 Act was the creation of the Commission on Local Government, whose mission is to "help ensure that all of [the] counties, cities and towns are maintained as viable communities in which their citizens can live." Code § 15.1-945.1. The Commission is empowered, inter alia, "[t]o investigate, analyze, and make findings of fact ... as to the probable effect" of any proposed annexation, declaration of immunity from annexation, incorporation of town or city, or transition from county to city. Code § 15.1-945.3(H). The report of the Commission's findings and recommendations is admissible in evidence "in any subsequent proceeding relating to the subject matter thereof." Code § 15.1-945.7(B). Applying its statewide experience in analyzing other cases, the Commission can bring to bear knowledge and insight which may be vital in deciding the complex issues faced by an annexation court. Manifestly, the Commission on Local Government was created to ensure uniform procedures for the maintenance of viable units of local government.

Other changes made in the annexation statutes in 1979 are largely procedural or clarifying. Some merely codify case law. We will discuss only those pertinent to our analysis.

As we interpret the content of the 1979 Act and its legislative history, we reach five conclusions. First, the state favors cooperation, rather than competition, among local governments. Second, annexation courts must balance the interests of the people in all the areas concerned. Third, annexation may not be warranted where urbanized counties already provide adequate urban services. Fourth, the state's interest in maintaining strong local governments is an important consideration. Fifth, the findings and recommendations of an impartial administrative agency will help to protect and promote that interest.

With these conclusions in mind, we turn to the merits of the case.

III. Necessity and Expedience

Essentially, the County's complaint is that the evidence was insufficient to prove that annexation is necessary and expedient.

An annexation court must

determine the necessity for and expediency of annexation, considering the best interests of the people of the county and the city or town, services to be rendered and needs of the people of the area proposed to be annexed, the best interests of the people in the remaining portion of the county and the best interests of the State in promoting strong and viable units of government.

Code § 15.1-1041(b) (italics identify...