This publish was authored by Matthew Loescher, Esq.

The Chandlers and Barnes had sought an injunction to forestall the City Council of Perdido Seaside from developing a public boat launch and pier on the finish of State Avenue on the western shore of Soldier’s Creek. – adjoining to their properties. On this case, the property appealed from a judgment entered by the Baldwin Circuit Court docket after a bench trial in favor of the City Council.

Upon assessment of the document, the courtroom famous that the proposed boat launch could be positioned the place State Avenue ends on the fringe of Soldier’s Creek, and wouldn’t destroy or inhibit using State Avenue as a public highway. The boat-launch challenge would improve State Avenue’s use as an space of ​​public recreation, making it simpler for residents to launch boats, to fish on the pier, and to picnic within the adjoining designated public park. As such, the challenge didn’t divert State Avenue from its devoted public objective. Furthermore, the “City of Perdido Seaside Grasp Plan 2030” contained a number of references to offering public water entry and boat launches to the group within the years to come back for the advantage of Perdido Seaside’s residents. The courtroom discovered the aforementioned supported the circuit courtroom’s conclusion that the boat-launch challenge was a governmental perform, reasonably than a proprietary one, and the City Council was immune from the zoning ordinance’s wetland-setback provision.

The Chandlers and Barnes subsequent argued that the nice weight of the proof demonstrated that the zoning amendments would create a public security hazard and the zoning amendments had been arbitrary and capricious as a result of they had been enacted solely to accommodate the launch of the boat reasonably than for the advantage of Perdido Seaside as a complete. As mentioned above, nonetheless, the document displays that Perdido Seaside has all the time meant to extend public water entry and that for years many residents have been asking for extra water-access factors. Additional proof indicated that State Avenue had already been used for a number of years to entry Soldier’s Creek. The boat-launch challenge at concern sought to make water entry simpler for residents who – in contrast to the Chandlers — didn’t have entry to the personal boat launch within the Parkway Seaside Space. Accordingly, the courtroom held the validity of these zoning amendments was pretty debatable and never arbitrary and capricious. Consequently, the circuit courtroom’s judgment following the bench trial was confirmed.

Barnes v City Council of Perdido Seaside, 2022 WL 12240411 (AL 10/21/2022)