Helena goes to court to block Hoover's annexation efforts in Indian Ford Fire District

The city of Helena on Friday went to court to try to block Hoover’s efforts to annex property in the Indian Ford Fire District in southwest Jefferson County while an election is pending for Helena to annex the entire fire district.

Helena Mayor Brian Puckett said Hoover’s efforts to annex the land are illegal, so Helena is asking a Jefferson County circuit judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent Hoover from moving forward with annexation efforts or interfering in Helena’s annexation election, scheduled for Aug. 8.

The Hoover City Council on Thursday held a special meeting for a first reading of an ordinance to annex some of the property in the Indian Ford Fire District, with a second reading and vote scheduled for Monday night, July 17.

Puckett said (and the city of Helena in legal filings contends) that once the Helena City Council officially accepted the annexation petition from the Indian Ford Fire District on June 12, the land already has been annexed into Helena, pending ratification by voters in the fire district.

“Alabama law is crystal clear on this matter,” Helena argued in its legal filing. “Hoover is prohibited from accepting any petition to annex any property in the Indian Ford Fire District because Helena has commenced proceedings, including an election, to annex the district.”

Helena cited a 1977 court case regarding efforts by Homewood to annex property in the Oxmoor area after Birmingham already had passed a resolution to annex property off Oxmoor Road.

The trial court ruled then that “it is well recognized that once a municipality has officially commenced proceedings directed toward annexing certain territory, that municipality retains full and exclusive jurisdiction over such territory until the conclusion of said proceedings.”

While the Alabama Supreme Court reversed the trial court ruling in that case, it was due to other grounds, Helena argued in its motion filed Friday.

Helena also contends that Hoover has violated a law passed in January of this year that prohibits public officials and employees from expending “any public funds from any source for activities to advocate in favor or against a … local ballot measure,” such as the upcoming Aug. 8 annexation election.

That law prohibits public officials and employees from “contracting with any entity which engages in any form of political communication,” “paying for any form of political communication” and “phone calling for any political purpose.”

“Hoover is violating these statutes in its efforts to influence or interfere with the Referendum Election by having officials, employees and contractors approach property owners and offer them payments and abatements to not just entice to vote “no” on the referendum, but to outright sabotage the election by demolishing the legal description and boundaries of the District that are included in Helena’s Resolution,” Helena said in its legal motion.

“If Hoover were allowed to continue on this path, the whole Election could be rendered useless due to a legal description that is flawed as a result of Hoover’s illegal activities,” Helena argued.

Helena also has argued that some of the land Hoover is attempting to annex, namely a new Chevron gasoline station at the corner of South Shades Crest Road and Morgan Road, is not legally contiguous to the Hoover city limits because Hoover’s property is across an intersection and only touches on its corner.

“Several Alabama Attorney General Opinions have consistently held ‘that ‘corner to corner’ or ‘needlepoint’ parcels of land do not qualify for annexation under any of the existing statutory methods of annexation,’” Helena’s motion said.

Helena also is arguing that Hoover did not provide proper 24 hours’ notice for its special meeting held Thursday or follow proper laws and procedures regarding tax abatements and financial incentives that Hoover is offering property owners to come into Hoover instead of Helena.

The annexation of some of the properties that is scheduled for Monday night is tied to an agreement that the property owners receive a rebate for the non-educational portion of property taxes in Hoover for five years, Hoover City Planner Mac Martin said. Hoover also would cover any fire dues owed to the Indian Ford Fire District for those properties, he said.

There also is a tax rebate agreement tied to the annexation of the Chevron station at the corner of Morgan Road and South Shades Crest Road. Holden Energy, the property owner, would receive a 50% rebate of retail sales taxes for goods sold inside the convenience store and a rebate of the non-education portion of Hoover property taxes for five years, said Greg Knighton, Hoover’s economic development manager.

Puckett said Hoover is trying to rush these annexations to snatch up the land before the annexation into Helena is ratified and said he believes Hoover is not really interested in annexing the entire fire district, just those properties that are either already commercial or have potential for commercial development.

If Hoover is successful, “there are a lot of residents in there that are going to be up the creek without a paddle,” Puckett said.

Helena is agreeing to annex the entire fire district, which Puckett said has about 2,000 residents. But Helena agreed to annex the fire district and serve those residents and property owners only after doing a cost-benefit analysis that included the commercial, revenue-producing properties Hoover is now trying to annex, Puckett said.

Puckett said that he contacted Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato about a  month ago and shared Helena’s position on the matter and that Brocato essentially told him Hoover would proceed with its efforts as well.

Hoover’s city planner on Thursday said about 20 property owners covering roughly 200 acres in the Indian Ford Fire District are asking Hoover to annex them.

The Hoover City Council’s special meeting Thursday night was for a first reading of an ordinance to annex roughly half of eight properties totaling 6 acres off Morgan Road, just west of property in Hoover on Russet Crest Circle.

The property has to be annexed in phases because it is close to the Bessemer city limits. A vote is scheduled for Monday night.

Those properties are zoned for agricultural use, Martin said. The 6 acres in total being considered for annexation there have two homes on them, he said. The property would retain its agricultural zoning if annexed, but the owners could later ask that the land be rezoned, he said.

Also on Monday, the council plans to have a first reading of an ordinance to annex property at the intersection of Morgan Road and South Shades Crest Road that contains a new Chevron gasoline station. That property also is in the Indian Ford Fire District, Martin said.

There are other property owners in the fire district that also are asking to be annexed into Hoover, he said. Most, if not all, of them are in the area between the Bessemer Airport and Morgan Road, he said.

Most of the property is either residential or agricultural land, but it has the potential to be developed commercially, especially with the ongoing project to widen Morgan Road to five lanes, Martin said.

“We see commercial viability there,” he said. “We would like to be position in case those opportunities come up.”

Commercial land tends to be more valuable to government entities due to the taxes that can be generated. One of the tracts seeking annexation is 85 acres, Martin said.