Title: Blankenship v. City of Decatur

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

115 So. 2d 459 (1959)
R. J. BLANKENSHIP et al.
v.
CITY OF DECATUR et al.
8 Div. 984.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
November 5, 1959.
Calvin, Gilchrist & Murphree, Decatur, for appellants.
Peach, Caddell & Shanks, John A. Caddell, Britnell & McEntire, Ben L. Britnell, Decatur, for appellees.
White, Bradley, Arant, All & Rose, Wm. Alfred Rose and Robt. R. Reid, Jr., Birmingham, amici curiae.
MERRILL, Justice.
Appellants, property owners and taxpayers in the City of Decatur, filed a bill in equity seeking a declaratory judgment and an injunction against appellees, City of Decatur and Housing Authority of the City of Decatur, enjoining the appellees *460 from carrying out a redevelopment and urban renewal plan known and designated as the "Well Street Urban Renewal Project."
Appellants contend that the redevelopment projects Act, Act 491, General Acts of Alabama, 1949, p. 713, and the urban renewal projects Act, Act 553, General Acts of Alabama 1955, p. 1210, which are listed as Tit. 25, Chaps. 10 and 11, §§ 96-112, Cumulative Pocket Part, Code 1940, do not authorize a redevelopment project in which all of the property acquired is to be resold to private individuals; that the statutes are unconstitutional and that appellees acted arbitrarily, unreasonably or capriciously in carrying out and approving said project.
The appellees defended on the grounds that the statutes do authorize redevelopment projects in which all of the property is to be resold to private individuals; that the statutes in question are constitutional and that the actions of appellees were not arbitrary, unreasonable or capricious.
The trial court denied all the relief sought after a full hearing and this appeal is from the final decree of the circuit court, in equity.
On January 16, 1956, the City Council of the City of Decatur adopted a resolution declaring that the Well Street area was a slum, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating area appropriate for an urban renewal project and approving the undertaking by the Housing Authority of the City of Decatur of surveys and plans for an urban renewal project in that area. After various proceedings, the urban renewal plan was presented to the City Council by the Housing Authority at the meeting of the City Council on July 1, 1958, was taken under consideration and held over until the meeting of July 15, 1958, and finally, on August 5, 1958, a resolution was adopted, finding that the project was a slum and blighted area and qualified as an eligible project area under Tit. 25, Code 1940, as amended,: and that the urban renewal plan for the: project had been duly reviewed and considered. During all of that period from January 16, 1956, until the adoption of the resolution approving the plan on August 5, 1958, none of the appellants made any proposal or effort to rehabilitate the area by voluntary action. On August 5, 1958, a proposal was made requesting a further delay of six months, which proposal was rejected by the City Council.
The area statistics for the property to be cleared, as shown in Part 1 in the application for loan and grant, being the appellees' Exhibit No. 5, are as follows:
Appellants state in brief as follows:
This question is answered in the negative in the cases of Adams v. Housing Authority of City of Daytona Beach, Fla., 60 So. 2d 663; Edens v. City of Columbia, 228 S.C. 563, 91 S.E.2d 280; and Housing Authority of City of Atlanta v. Johnson, 209 Ga. 560, 74 S.E.2d 891, and fully support appellants' contention that the redevelopment and urban renewal project as undertaken under the applicable statutes was unconstitutional.
We note in passing that following the decision in the last cited case, the Constitution of the State of Georgia was *461 amended and new legislation was upheld in Bailey v. Housing Authority of City of Bainbridge, 214 Ga. 790, 107 S.E.2d 812.
The partinent part of § 23 of the Constitution reads:
We have said that the "public use" as used in § 23 should be given an elastic or liberal meaning, and that "the great weight of authority holds that the result and purpose to be accomplished under the act in question was for a public use." Brammer v. Housing Authority of Birmingham Dist., 239 Ala. 280, 195 So. 256, 258. That case was concerned with the validity of the act which later was codified as Tit. 25, §§ 5-30, Code 1940, where similar questions to those now before us were raised.
Later, in Opinion of the Justices, 254 Ala. 343, 48 So. 2d 757, 760, rendered October 25, 1950, in considering Act 491, General Acts of Alabama 1949, p. 713, now listed in the Cumulative Pocket Part as Tit. 25, §§ 96-104, this court, including four present members, followed the Brammer case and said:
A later annotation appears in 44 A.L.R.2d 1414 et seq.
At that time, the cases relied on by appellants had not been decided, nor had the following cases from additional jurisdictions been decided, all of which support the position taken by this court in the Brammer case, 239 Ala. 280, 195 So. 256, and Opinion of the Justices, 254 Ala. 343, 48 So. 2d 757; Rowe v. Housing Authority of City of Little Rock, 220 Ark. 698, 249 S.W.2d 551; Babcock v. Community Redevelopment Agency of City of Los Angeles, 148 Cal. App. 2d 38, 306 P.2d 513; Gohld Realty Co. v. City of Hartford, 141 Conn. 135, 104 A.2d 365; Randolph v. Wilmington Housing *462 Authority, Del., 139 A.2d 476; Alanel Corp. v. Indianapolis Redevelopment Commission, Ind., 154 N.E.2d 515; State ex rel. Fatzer v. Urban Renewal Agency, 179 Kan. 435, 296 P.2d 656; Miller v. City of Louisville, Ky., 321 S.W.2d 237; Herzinger v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 203 Md. 49, 96 A.2d 3, 98 A.2d 87; Worcester Knitting Realty Co. v. Worcester Housing Authority, 335 Mass. 19, 138 N.E.2d 356; Housing and Redevelopment Authority of City of St. Paul v. Greenman, Minn., 96 N.W.2d 673; Velishka v. City of Nashua, 99 N.H. 161, 106 A.2d 571, 44 A.L.R.2d 1406; State ex rel. Bruestle v. Rich, 159 Ohio St. 13, 110 N.E.2d 778; Nashville Housing Authority v. City of Nashville, 192 Tenn. 103, 237 S.W.2d 946; Starr v. Nashville Housing Authority, D. C., 145 F. Supp. 498, affirmed 354 U.S. 916, 77 S. Ct. 1378, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1432; Hunter v. Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, 195 Va. 326, 78 S.E.2d 893; David Jeffrey Co. v. City of Milwaukee, 267 Wis. 559, 66 N.W.2d 362.
While it is true that Act 553, listed in the Pocket Part as Tit. 25, §§ 105-112, had not been enacted when the Opinion of the Justices, 254 Ala. 343, 48 So. 2d 757, was rendered, there is nothing in Act 553 which would affect the opinion rendered on Act 491. The instant proceedings, regardless of name, are much more concerned with a redevelopment project (Act 491) than with an urban renewal project (Act 553).
There is no new or different question here presented. We are faced with a choice of adopting a minority view, not without appealing argument, or of following a carefully considered opinion of the members of this court which is part of the majority opinion consisting of at least twenty-six States. We choose to follow our previous opinion and hold that Acts 491 and 553, listed as Tit. 25, §§ 96-112, Code 1940, Pocket Part, authorize the redevelopment project sought by appellees, and the statutes do not violate § 23 of the Constitution.
Appellants also argue that the action of appellees was arbitrary, unreasonable or capricious for including some properties which are not substandard, for including some fringe areas, and in not permitting the property owners six months in which to improve or remove the present buildings on the property.
In Brammer v. Housing Authority of Birmingham Dist., 239 Ala. 280, 195 So. 256, 258, we said:
The evidence shows that the plans of the Housing Authority were approved by the City Council after much and lengthy consideration. In Alosi v. Jones, 234 Ala. 391, 174 So. 774, 776, this court said:
The trial court heard and saw the witnesses and had all the maps and documents before him and reached the conclusion that "the respondents have not been guilty of arbitrary or unreasonable actions in the steps taken pursuant to those statutes in furtherance of the Project plans but their actions are valid and authorized by and in compliance with those statutes."
There was evidence to support this finding, both as to area and as to the denial of the six months extension, since it came at such a late date, August 5, 1958, when the final resolution was adopted.
From the pictures of each structure in the area which are in evidence, and testimony in the record, there is no question but that most of the territory is a slum area. In Mumpower v. Housing Authority of City of Bristol, 176 Va. 426, 11 S.E.2d 732, 735, it was said:
And the mere fact that some of the buildings in the area are standard and substantial does not require that they be omitted from the operation of the project. Berman v. Parker, 348 U.S. 26, 75 S. Ct. 98, 99 L. Ed. 27; Starr v. Nashville Housing Authority, D.C., 145 F. Supp. 498, affirmed 354 U.S. 916, 77 S. Ct. 1378, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1432; Kaskel v. Impellitteri, 306 N.Y. 73, 115 N.E.2d 659, certiorari denied 347 U.S. 934, 74 S. Ct. 629, 98 L. Ed. 1085; Gohld Realty Co. v. City of Hartford, 141 Conn. 135, 104 A.2d 365; Herzinger v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 203 Md. 49, 96 A.2d 3, 98 A.2d 87; State on Information of Dalton v. Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority of Kansas City, 364 Mo. 974, 270 S.W.2d 44; Foeller v. Housing Authority of Portland, 198 Or. 205, 256 P.2d 752; Babcock v. Community Redevelopment Agency, 148 Cal. App. 2d 38, 306 P.2d 513; Velishka v. City of Nashua, 99 N.H. 161, 106 A.2d 571, 44 A.L.R.2d 1406; Hunter v. Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, 195 Va. 326, 78 S.E.2d 893; State ex rel. Bruestle v. Rich, 159 Ohio St. 13, 110 N.E.2d 778; Worcester Knitting Realty Co. v. Worcester Housing Authority, 335 Mass. 19, 138 N.E.2d 356, 358. In the last cited case, the court said:
The decree of the circuit court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and LAWSON and STAKELY, JJ., concur.