Court Opinion

ID: 9635062
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:34:27.791592+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:16.872656
License: Public Domain

John B. Robbins, Judge, dissenting. I agree with the majority’s opinion to the extent that it affirms the decision of the Pulaski County Circuit Court, which denied appellant a de novo judicial hearing on all issues that had been addressed by the State Highway Commission. I disagree, however, that the Commission’s construction of the Arkansas Highway Beautification Act and regulations promulgated thereunder should have been affirmed. The issue, . the only issue, before the Commission was whether the proposed site of appellant’s billboard was on “land predominantly used for residential purposes.” The Beautification Act permits advertising signs within a 660-foot parameter with “unzoned commercial or industrial areas” as may be determined by agreement between the Commission and the United States, Secretary of Transportation. Ark. Code Ann § 27-74-204(a)(2) (Repl. 1994). Regulation 1(H)(2), which was promulgated thereafter, defined an unzoned commercial, business, or industrial area — where billboards are permitted — as follows: The land occupied by the regularly used building, parking lot, and storage or processing area of a commercial, business, or industrial activity, and that land within 600 feet thereof on both sides of the highway. The unzoned land shall not include: 2. Land predominantly used for residential purposes. The regulation did not, however, define the term “land predominantly used for residential purposes.” The Commission construed the Act and this regulation to mean that land is predominantly used for residential purposes if there are two residential properties and the partial yards of two residential properties within 600 feet of the proposed qualifying business, and the proposed site is on a lot within a residential subdivision where billboard structures are prohibited. As noted by the majority, issues of statutory construction are reviewed de novo. While deference is given to the construction given by the agency charged with its execution, we are not absolutely bound by the agency’s construction. Especially, as in the case at bar, where the legislative intent on an issue has been articulated so clearly, to-wit: (a) It is the legislative intent and purpose of this section to specifically define a certain term .... (b) As used in the agreement entered into between the commission and the Secretary of Transportation pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, “land predominantly used for residential purposes” means only those tracts of land within an unzoned commercial, business, or industrial area on a primary or interstate highway which are occupied by a building regularly and principally used as a residence and those tracts of land adjacent to those residential tracts which are under the same ownership as the residential tracts and which are actively used and maintained for residential purposes. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-74-210 (Repl. 1994). In construing any statute, we place it beside other statutes relevant to the subject matter in question and ascribe meaning and effect to be derived from the whole. Bush v. State, 338 Ark. 772, 2 S.W.3d 761 (1999). Statutes relating to the same subject must be construed together and in harmony, if possible. Id. With this construction aid, application of the Beautification Act and regulations permit only one conclusion, i.e., that appellant’s proposed sign location was not on “land predominantly used for residential purposes.” Reference to statutes and precedential case law in the performance of our de novo appellate review of statutory construction does not violate the prohibition of raising new issues on appeal. We routinely cite authorities in our opinions that were neither cited to the trial court nor many times in the briefs before us. While the appellant and the Commission should have mentioned this 1979 amendment to the Beautification Act, we are not foreclosed on our de novo review of statutory construction to address it. I would do so and reverse the trial court and Commission. I am authorized to state that Judge Roaf joins in this dissent.