Alabama § 11-99A-41 - Use of Improvements by Persons Not Assessed.

§ 11-99A-41. Use of Improvements by Persons Not Assessed.

(a) For use of improvements constructed, acquired, or installed by the district with proceeds of assessments, the board may require the payment of a connection, tap fee, or increased tap fee by persons owning property not assessed to pay for improvements, even though the utilities may be provided by some public person or utility other than the board. The tap fee shall be reasonable and may not exceed 150 percent of the assessment that otherwise would have been paid by the person.

(b) If the owner of any property that fronts on any street built with proceeds of an assessment, whether or not within the district, wishes to connect a driveway or street or otherwise to have access to the street, the owner shall obtain consent of the board to connect to the street, to any cut in the curb, to the establishment of any cut in the median, if any, and otherwise to ingress and egress on the street. The board shall exercise its discretion in order to provide for public safety in the use of the street, and may further condition approval on the payment of a “curb cut fee” in an amount not in excess of 150 percent of the assessments that the owner of the fronting property would have paid had the owner’s property been included within the district and the board shall require any owner to pay or reimburse the district for any costs of the district in making a curb cut, median cut, or otherwise permitting ingress and egress. The district may further condition use of the street on the adjacent land being annexed into the municipality that formed the district, on the owner of the land agreeing to restrict the use or to regulate the appearance of the land, or otherwise as the board may determine to be in the interest of the district. The district may enjoin by appropriate proceedings any ingress or egress to a street contrary to this section and any violation of any agreement restricting the use or regulating the appearance of the fronting land, without posting bond, and the person enjoined shall be obligated to pay all costs and legal fees in connection with the obtaining and enforcing of such injunctive relief.

(c) All tap fees and curb cut fees shall be applied to the payment of any bond issue outstanding that financed the cost of the improvements to which the owner is obtaining access. If no bonds are outstanding or fees exceed the amount of the bonds, the excess amount shall either be used to build additional improvements or to refund assessments paid with respect to improvements.