Court Opinion

ID: 9784012
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 20:35:39.846242+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:46.823964
License: Public Domain

NOBLE, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
The majority opinion asserts that the county clerk is “caught in the middle” of the question in this case: should the clerk accept deeds for recording that divide farm property into smaller divisions containing at least five acres each when their stated purpose is for agricultural use? I do not believe the result reached by the majority resolves this dilemma, because the majority requires the county clerk to seek outside advice on the matter, with the county attorney or some other lawyer, and then make the call whether to record the deeds. The “middle” just got worse for the county clerk who may now be facing personal liability for choosing wrongly.
As the majority acknowledges, under the agricultural exemption of KRS 100.111(22), 100.111(2) and 100.203(4), property owners do not need planning commission approval to divide their farmland, so long as it continues an agricultural purpose and does not involve a new street. Here, Nash stated in his deeds that the property was not to be used for “residen*821tial building development for sale or lease to the public.” At the time of division, the land was used as farmland. The new deeds restricted residential development. By process of elimination, the language means that the property use is intended to stay as farmland.
As the majority also acknowledges, a county clerk has the obligation to record recordable deeds within a reasonable time. Nothing about the proffered deeds made them unrecordable. However, because there were ordinances in place that required prior approval and decision-making by the planning commission as to the type of deed as either agricultural or subdivision, the clerk did not immediately record the deeds here. I agree with the majority that these ordinances are not proper, and should be set aside. However, once they are no longer considered, the clerk is back in the “middle” of decision-making again.
If a deed is on its face recordable, on what authority can a clerk refuse to record it? This is not the county attorney or an outside attorney’s call. It is, in fact, prejudging a case without that case ever having a day in court. Such a delay can no doubt prejudice the land owners who wish to go forward with the sale of their mini-farms.
Instead, the majority shows greater concern over the view of a planning commission that this might actually be a subdivision, subject to subdivision regulation by the planning commission, than it does the immediate property owners. In so doing, the county clerk remains squarely “in the middle.”
While I acknowledge that landowner’s rights are not “supreme” in regard to their real property, I do not believe the law supports elevating a possibility that could impact the planning commission over the present and immediate rights of the landowners. Since the clerk is required to record a “recordable” deed, these deeds should have been recorded. The planning commission then can be diligent in reviewing recent property recordations, and if there may be a problem, seek injunctive relief. This takes the county clerk out of the middle and allows him or her to just do their job. A landowner should not have to sue to do what he is entitled to do.
Since the agricultural exemption -clearly takes agricultural land use out of the review by the planning commission by making divisions such as these exempt from subdivision regulation, the burden of establishing a different use should not be on the landowner; the presumption should be that the use is agricultural.
Here, the land was referenced in the deeds as not for residential purposes, but to continue as agricultural. They all contained five or more acres as statutorily required, and no new public streets were necessary to construct as adequate easements existed to reach all the properties. The deeds were on their face recordable. Except for the ordinances in question, there was no reason for the county clerk to hesitate to record the deeds. Had that happened, the county then had ample opportunity to dispute the accuracy of any of those factors in court, rather than through outside consultations that do not carry the weight of law.
Consequently, while I agree with the majority that the ordinances were improper and should be set aside, I dissent from the process the majority endorses that unduly leaves the clerk dangling “in the middle.” I would reverse and order the deeds be recorded in accordance with this opinion. The county could then take any steps it deems necessary.
ABRAMSON, J., joins.