Court Opinion

ID: 9625813
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:51:39.279058+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:15.680282
License: Public Domain

Undercofler, Justice,
dissenting. The Act of 1971 (Ga. L. 1971, p. 683), provides that a local license must be obtained to operate self service motor fuel pumps and if the local government determines that such pumps are not injurious to the health or welfare of its residents, the license shall be granted. The City of Carrollton by ordinance requires that no person other than the owner of the station, his agent, servant, or employee may dispense motor fuel. Thereby it has banned self service motor fuel pumps. It follows that the City of Carrollton has determined that such pumps are injurious to the health and welfare of its residents. The preamble of the ordinance so indicates as follows: "Having given full consideration to the highly flammable nature of gasoline, diesel fuel and other motor fuel and the extreme safety precautions required of all persons dispensing the same, it is hereby ordained . . .”
J & L Oil, Inc., attacked the ordinance as arbitrary and unreasonable and therefore violative of constitutional provisions of due process and equal protection of the laws.
Selling gasoline and other motor fuels is a legal business. Persons are entitled to engage in such business. *823Self service gasoline stations may be banned only if it is reasonably necessary for public safety, health or welfare. In determining the question of reasonableness, extrinsic evidence may be considered.
There are various types of self service gasoline stations. I have no doubt that certain of them may be classified as unsafe. However, other types have been shown to be as safe or safer than conventional service stations. Such is the case here. J & L Oil, Inc., proposes to operate a self service gasoline station with an attendant present at all times in a booth to control the on-off operation of the pumps, including emergency cut off, by remote console; that the pumps cannot be operated unless the attendant is present; that the attendant undergoes prescribed training at the console; that the pump nozzles cannot be locked open as is common in conventional stations; that ample fire fighting equipment is available; that the proposed operation complies with all state and federal regulations for self service motor fuel stations; that self service gasoline stations are operating in 36 states; that J & L Oil, Inc., operates such stations in the States of Wisconsin, North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, and in East Point, Marietta, Atlanta, Fitzgerald and Newnan, Georgia; that in three years of operation there has never been a fire at any such station; that the State of Georgia Fire Marshal has issued 66 self service station permits of which 55 are operating; that he has received 237 applications of which 218 were approved; and that there have been no reports of fires or instances of fires in self service stations in Georgia. There was also testimony that self service stations of the type proposed are safer than conventional stations. There is no evidence to the contrary.
In my opinion the City of Carrollton may impose conditions upon the operation of self service gasoline stations which are reasonably calculated to insure the safety of the public. However, to prohibit all self service *824gasoline stations is clearly arbitrary and unreasonable and violates the constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection of the laws. Hughes v. Reynolds, 223 Ga. 727 (157 SE2d 746); Heard v. Bolton, 107 Ga. App. 863 (131 SE2d 835).
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Nichols concurs in this dissent.