Alabama § 11-52-50 - Authorized; Adoption, Approval, Etc., of Plat Therefor; Agreements Between Planning Commission and Landowners as to Releases of Claims for Damages or Compensation for Reservations; Abandonment of Reservations.

§ 11-52-50. Authorized; Adoption, Approval, Etc., of Plat Therefor; Agreements Between Planning Commission and Landowners as to Releases of Claims for Damages or Compensation for Reservations; Abandonment of Reservations.

Any municipal planning commission is empowered, after it shall have adopted a major street plan of the territory within its subdivision jurisdiction or of any major section or district thereof, to make or cause to be made, from time to time, surveys for the exact location of the lines of a street or streets in any portion of such territory and to make a plat of the area or district thus surveyed, showing the land which it recommends be reserved for future acquisition for public streets.

The commission, before adopting any such plat, shall hold a public hearing thereon, notice of the time and place of which, with the general description of the district or area covered by the plat, shall be given not less than 10 days previous to the time fixed therefor by one publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality if the district or area is within the municipality or of general circulation in the county if the district or area is outside of the municipality.

After such a hearing the commission may transmit the plat, as originally made or modified as may be determined by the commission, to the council, together with the commission’s estimate of the time or times within which the lands shown on the plat as street locations should be acquired by the municipality. Thereupon by resolution the council may approve and adopt or may reject such plat or may modify it with the approval of the planning commission or, in the event of the planning commission’s disapproval, the council may, by a favorable vote of not less than two thirds of its entire membership, modify such plat and adopt the modified plat. In the resolution of adoption of a plat the council shall fix the period of time for which the street locations shown upon the plat shall be deemed reserved for future taking or acquisitions for public use. Upon such adoption the clerk of the council shall transmit one attested copy of the plat to the probate judge of each county in which the platted land is located and retain one copy for the purpose of public examination and hearings of claims for compensation.

Such approval and adoption of a plat shall not, however, be deemed the opening or establishment of any street nor the taking of any land for street purposes nor for public use nor as a public improvement, but solely as a reservation of the street locations shown thereon for the period specified in the council resolution for future taking or acquisition for public use.

The commission may, at any time, negotiate for or secure from the owner or owners of any such lands releases of claims for damages or compensation for such reservations or agreements indemnifying the municipality from such claims by others, which releases or agreements shall be binding upon the owner or owners executing the same and their successors in title. At any time after the filing of a plat with the probate judge and during the period specified for the reservation, the planning commission and the owner of any land containing a reserved street location may agree upon a modification of the location of the lines of the proposed street, such agreement to include a release by said owner of any claim for compensation or damages by reason of such modification, and thereupon the commission may make a plat corresponding to the said modification and transmit same to the council and, if such modified plat shall be approved by the council, the clerk of council shall transmit an attested copy thereof to the said probate judge, and said modified plat shall take the place of the original plat.

At any time the council may, by resolution, abandon any reservation and shall certify any such abandonment to the said probate judge.