State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Alabama > Title11 > Title2 > 11-52-51Section 11-52-51
Appointment of board of appraisers, etc.; notice of and conduct of hearing upon claims for compensation for reservations; establishment of amount of compensation by board of appraisers; liability of municipality to property owners for expenses upon abandonment of reservation.
In the resolution of adoption of a plat the council shall appoint a board of three appraisers and shall fix the time and place of meetings for hearings by said board upon the amounts of compensation to be paid for such reservations. Thereupon the clerk of the council shall publish in at least two newspapers of general circulation in the municipality once a week for four consecutive weeks a notice which shall contain a general description of the land thus reserved as shown on the plat, the provisions of the resolutions of the council, including the period of time for which such reservations are made, the time within which claims for compensation may be filed, which shall be not less than three months nor more than six months from the date of the notice, and the time and place of hearings by the board of appraisers. The first hearing shall not be set earlier than 30 days after the date of the first of such publications. Such notice shall also be posted in at least three public places in the neighborhood of or along the line of the location of the reservation.
The board of appraisers shall fix the amounts of compensation to be paid, respectively, to the owners of the lands reserved for the period of time as shown on the plat and in the resolution adopted by council. Whenever the clerk of the council receives, within the period fixed for the same, any claim for such compensation, he shall transmit it to the board of appraisers. At the time and place fixed for such hearings the board of appraisers shall hear and consider all claims presented to it in writing or in person, including all evidence which may be presented by the claimants or other persons. The board of appraisers shall have the right on its own initiative to investigate and ascertain data or evidence relevant to the question of such compensation.
In case of the abandonment of a reservation prior to the time fixed for payment of compensation, the municipality shall be liable to the owner of the land included within the abandoned reservation for the expenses, if any, incurred by such owner by reason of such reservation.
(Acts 1935, No. 534, p. 1126; Code 1940, T. 37, §805.)