FAIRHOPE – City ordinances, including wetlands protection regulations, are no longer in effect in areas outside Fairhope’s corporate limits following the passage of a legislative bill limiting municipal authority, city officials said Monday, July 26.
Chris Williams, a lawyer working the city on the act, told members of the Fairhope City Council that the law, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, limits the authority of municipalities outside their corporate limits over subdivision planning, which is sometimes called the extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ.
“With the effectiveness of the law today, what was commonly referred to as the city’s ETJ is basically dissolved or gone away,” Williams said. “The extent of the planning jurisdiction for Fairhope’s Planning Commission, where subdivision regulations will be enforced is now wrapped into generally what is called the police jurisdiction, what has previously been known as the police jurisdiction that was in place as of January of this year.”
Williams said the act prevents the city from enforcing ordinances outside its limits.
“Some of those laws include the sign ordinance, noise ordinances, some environmental wetlands protections – red clay, and so outside the corporate limits, as of today, the city will not be able to enforce some of those ordinances,” Williams said.
Building Official Eric Cortinas said those ordinances include wetlands protections and regulations intended to keep eroded soil from being washed into Mobile Bay.
“We had a joint staff meeting this morning with planning and there were three specific things that we typically look at that are no longer within our jurisdiction as of today, the city’s wetland protection ordinance for anything that is outside the city limits,” Cortinas said. “That enforcement ended today. There was also a, we call it a red clay and staining soils ordinance where you’re not allowed to have certain soils within a proximity of the bay to prevent pollution. That is no longer valid as of today.”
Continas said the Alabama Department of Environmental Management has basic erosion projection regulations. He said any potential violations will be referred to ADEM, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
He said the city still has the authority to issue building permits in the police jurisdiction and Fairhope officials will monitor wetlands and erosion controls in checking on permits, but the state and federal regulations do not extend the same protections as the city ordinances.
“If someone is building in a wetland, that is a building code concern because you’re building a foundation on what is typically kind of mucky ground. So, we would have engineering requirements, which we do now anyway,” Cortinas said. “But in terms of our ordinance not allowing you to fill absolutely anything in a yard. We’ve got many down on Scenic 98 where there’s a fill pad directly under the house. The rest of the yard has to remain in a natural wetland state. That’s what our ordinance calls for. With the new ordinance if ADEM or the corps allow it, they can go in, topsoil it, sod it like you would a normal yard.”
Under the new act, a city’s police jurisdiction can extend up to three miles from the corporate limits. As of January 2023, that jurisdiction will be reduced to a maximum of 1.5 miles, Williams said. He said the new jurisdiction maps must be approved by the city and County Commission.
Councilman Corey Martin said city and county officials need to work together to coordinate regulations.
“I hope the transition, somebody in the county has been talking to somebody in the city as far as our environmental board or our Mobile Baykeepers or some organization to where they’re prepared for this day,” Martin said. “I’m hoping, for the people’s sake.”
