St. Joe Natural Gas Co. v. City of Ward Ridge, P--141
| Decision Date | 15 August 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. P--141,P--141 |
| Parties | ST. JOE NATURAL GAS COMPANY, Inc., a Florida corporation, Appellant, v. CITY OF WARD RIDGE, a municipal corporation, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Cecil G. Costin, Jr., Port St. Joe, for appellant.
William J. Rish, of Rish & Witten, Port St. Joe, for appellee.
Appellant instituted this action in mandamus against appellee municipal corporation by which it sought a peremptory writ requiring respondent to issue to it a permit to construct its natural gas pipeline along certain described rights-of-way lying within the streets of the municipality. From an adverse judgment, this appeal is taken.
By its petition appellant alleged that it is a public utility corporation doing business in Florida and supplying natural gas for domestic and industrial purposes to the inhabitants of the area adjacent to the respondent municipality. Appellant further alleged that it applied to appellee for a permit to construct and operate a pipeline along one of the city streets in the municipality for the purpose of serving the inhabitants thereof, but its application was denied without just cause. Respondent filed its return to the alternative writ in which it alleged that prior to the institution of this action it had adopted a municipal ordinance granting to another public utility corporation an exclusive franchise to construct and operate a gas pipeline system within the municipality for the purpose of furnishing gas to the residents thereof; that pursuant to such contract, that utility company had completed construction of its gas line and was now operating its system in the streets designated by petitioner as the location for the gas line it desired to install.
The primary issue involved in the case concerns the lawful power and authority of the appellee city to grant an exclusive franchise to a public utility corporation to construct and operate a gas distribution system within the rights-of-way of the streets in the municipality.
Respondent municipal corporation was created in 1961 by a special act of the Florida Legislature. 1 The section of the city charter which enumerates its powers provides as follows:
Appellant premises its position on the well established principle of law prevailing in this state which holds to the proposition that a municipality has no power to grant an exclusive franchise to a public service corporation to use its streets unless the power not only to grant a franchise but also to grant an exclusive franchise has been delegated to it by the legislature either expressly or by necessary implication. 2 Appellant urges that the above-quoted section of the city charter does not expressly or by implication confer upon the municipality the power to grant an exclusive franchise to a public utility corporation. It takes the position that the words 'to grant franchises of all kinds' has reference to the different types of franchises which the city may elect to grant such as contracts for furnishing electrical, gas, water, sewer, or other similar services, but does not mean nor have reference to 'exclusive' and 'nonexclusive' franchises. On the contrary, it is appellee's position that the above-quoted language of the city charter relates to the power of the City of Ward Ridge to grant franchises, both exclusive and nonexclusive, and was never intended simply as an enumeration of these types of franchises for the furnishing of the different types of utility services which the city may elect to grant. The problem before us therefore resolves itself into one of statutory construction.
A further examination of the city charter reveals...
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