There is pending litigation involving four residents of Magnolia Springs suing the town over alleged proposed plans for Rock Street and Rock Landing, two pieces of property within the town limits.

Magnolia Springs Mayor Charles Houser said he was advised by the town’s attorney, Brad Hicks, to not comment on the pending litigation at this time.

There is a trial set for March 7 in Bay Minette, Houser said.

According to legal documents, the plaintiffs are Lowell Steven Fuller, Deborah Kay Holcombe Fuller, Ronald Turner and Sheila Turner, and they are filing suit because of the town’s alleged planned uses of the street and landing.

“The status of Rock Street is a legal issue,” the plaintiffs stated in a legal document. “Our complaint alleges that neither Rock Street nor Rock Landing includes any riparian rights to the shores of the Magnolia River; and that the town cannot turn a street to a park.”

The street and landing are near Magnolia River.

“The plans of the town of Magnolia Springs for the use of Rock Street and Rock Landing are facts,” the plaintiffs stated in a legal document. “Whether those improvements can be constructed on Rock Street and Rock Landing, or whether those public areas can be used for the plans to which the town intends to put them, are not facts, but rather conclusions of law for the court to make. Our contention is that the law applicable to those facts is that Rock Street and Rock Landing cannot be used for those purposes.”

When asked what the town’s alleged improvements or plans were, Ronald Turner did not want to comment on the issue any further.

    “I don’t think the other people in it and my attorney and my wife would want me talking about it,” he said.

The town council went into executive session at Tuesday’s meeting to discuss the matter, citing “legal ramification on pending litigation” as the reason.

“Municipalities and elected officials can go in a ‘non-public meeting’ for only two reasons,” Houser said. “One is for pending litigation, (and the second is) when they are talking about personnel issues.”