Magnolia Springs mulls seeking Attorney General opinion

By CATHY HIGGINS Onlooker Editor onlooker@gulfcoastnewspapers.com
Posted 9/12/13

MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Ala. — The Alabama Attorney General’s office could soon become involved in Magnolia Springs’ first ever property-vacation request.

During Tuesday’s regular workshop, the Town Council discussed the possibility of seeking …

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Magnolia Springs mulls seeking Attorney General opinion

Posted

MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Ala. — The Alabama Attorney General’s office could soon become involved in Magnolia Springs’ first ever property-vacation request.

During Tuesday’s regular workshop, the Town Council discussed the possibility of seeking the A.G.’s opinion in the issue of a fee to vacate a small portion of Palm Street.

As previously reported, the council voted in May to grant the request of James and Ann West and Tim and Sandra Russell that the town vacate a 20-by-40 foot portion of the street, contingent upon a fee for the transaction. However, last month, James West opposed the $56,000 appraisal the town received for the land. Instead, the Wests and Russells had offered to pay a fee of $15,000 each.

Also, in August, the council came across another issue.

“I think we found out last meeting there seems to be a glitch in the state code in the difference between fair-market value and assessed value,” Mayor Ken Underwood said.

It’s this issue that, on Tuesday, the council discussed involving the state A.G.

“I would suggest we do it in a proper manner,” Underwood said.

The council’s option are to seek the A.G.’s opinion or to simply come up with a figure it deemed an acceptable fee for vacating the land.

“If we plugged in a number and it exceeded something, we may be in for a lawsuit,” Underwood said.

“I’m beginning to understand why that gate’s been there for six years,” Councilman Ben Dykema said. “I apologize for yelling about it six months ago.”

He referred to the gate the Wests placed on the land in question when Palm Street was still under Baldwin County street maintenance jurisdiction. But when the town of Magnolia Springs incorporated in 2006, the municipality declared the gate a public nuisance and asked for its removal. The gate remains today and was the impetus for the Wests and Russells to ask the town to vacate the portion of road on which it is situated.

The council will vote on whether to seek the state’s opinion during its next regular meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24.