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CITY OF BARLING v. FORT CHAFFEE REDEVELOPMENT12/6/2001
differences exist between Barling and the Trust. Each of these affiants asserted that Barling's zoning plans conflicted in numerous ways with the Trust's Reuse Plan and with
the goals set out in the Economic Development Conveyance (EDC) application. The trial court concluded that Barling's ordinances conflicted with the Trust's needs to maintain a flexible development plan in order to accomplish its goals set out in the Reuse Plan, and that if the FCRA were forced to comply with Barling's zoning ordinances, it would not be able to accomplish its goal of job creation, which was a condition of the government's conveyance of the Fort Chaffee property back to the Trust.
Barling contends that the conflicts cited by the trial court are nothing more than zoning disputes between a real property developer (FCRA) and a municipality, and should in no way equate to the type of constitutional "conflict" prohibited between the state statute and a municipal ordinance. In short, Barling submits that the fact that the FCRA's development plan is not entirely consistent with Barling's zoning regulations does not confer upon the FCRA the authority to develop its own zoning and land use regulations and ignore those imposed by Barling.
In support of its argument, Barling cites Bolden v. Watt, 290 Ark. 343, 719 S.W.2d 428 (1986), wherein this court held that a city ordinance will not be held to conflict with a state statute when it is possible to read them in a harmonious manner. In Bolden, the appellant taxicab drivers were denied permits to operate taxicabs in Little Rock under a city ordinance prohibiting permits to persons convicted of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquors. Little Rock had authority to enact such an ordinance under a 1939 state statute. The appellant drivers contended the 1939 statute conflicted with a 1973 statute, which promoted the rehabilitation of criminal offenders by providing that criminal records and misdemeanor convictions could not be used to deny a person a license or permit. The Bolden court upheld Little Rock's denial of the drivers' permits. The court held that the two statutes and the Little Rock ordinance could be read in harmony, because they effectuated different purposes; it reasoned that the rehabilitation statute did not attempt to give a person a right to any particular job., but still benefitted those who had DWI convictions since they could get
other jobs. This court explained that the public safety and welfare are sound reasons for holding taxi drivers to a higher degree of accountability than the ordinary driver. Bolden, 290 Ark. at 346-47. Barling asserts that its zoning ordinances and the State's recognition of the FCRA are subject to the same kind of harmonization, because the FCRA is simply a real estate developer, like any other developer, that must comport with the city's zoning laws.
FCRA responds that the General Assembly, by acknowledging the Trust in § 12-63-103, also acknowledged that the Trust became the "regularly constituted authority" for accomplishing trust purposes, and that the Trust and Barling had entered into a binding contract. See § 28-72-202(d). FCRA thus asserts that the General Assembly "was aware, in short, that the `binding contract' that it `endorsed' gave FCRA land-use regulatory powers over Fort Chaffee, and stated that its provisions should be `liberally interpreted.'" Further, because Barling — as a signatory to the Trust Indenture — acknowledged that it could not develop and manage the land to its best use by itself, FCRA contends that the General Assembly clearly intended to give the FCRA the authority for planning the appropriate use of the land, instead of simply "relying on the general zo
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