Thursday, September 9, 2010 | DeKalb County's Oldest Newspaper |
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Council to settle lawsuit
Published March 1, 2007
A three-year-old lawsuit over a building permit the city of Rainsville issued in error may be settled Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in 2004 by Rodney and Benita Etherton of Rainsville, stems from a building permit the Ethertons were issued to build chicken houses on property within the city limits.
The city issued the permit, but after construction on the chicken houses began, it was discovered that a city ordinance prohibited agricultural construction on the property in question.
The Rainsville City Council has scheduled a special meeting for today at noon at the Rainsville Municipal Building, according to Mayor Donnie Chandler.
He said the city council would be considering a resolution to the lawsuit and a related appeal to the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustments.
“A mistake was made,” Chandler said, “but we’re now trying to correct it.”
Rainsville City Attorney Jayson Carroll said the Ethertons had asked the Zoning Board of Adjustments for a special exception that would allow them to finish the proposed construction, but the exception was denied. Carroll said the Ethertons have appealed this ruling, and the city council will consider this appeal today as well.
“It comes down to an error,” Carroll said. “The land had been zoned not to permit that [type of] construction. We’re not paying him not to build chicken houses, but to recognize that the city errantly issued the building permit, and [Etherton] relied on that permit when he began construction.”
Carroll said that [Etherton] had claimed, in a December 2006 deposition, that he had incurred about $60,000 in expenses prior to the revocation of the building permit by the city.
“This is why the city council will probably be willing to pay for the error,” Carroll said.
He said if the council cannot reach a settlement, the case will be heard by Judge David Rains March 5.
“We’re either going to settle the matter, or the judge will consider it next week,” Carroll said.
“It’s something the city did, mistakenly. We want to settle the matter,” Chandler said.
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