Alabama Code
(excerpts)
Section 11-85-1
Establishment of region and creation of regional planning commission.
Governor appoints members.
Section 11-85-2
Composition; qualifications, appointment, terms of office, compensation and removal of members; vacancies.
The regional planning commission shall consist of nine persons.
Section 11-85-3
Organization, staff, procedure, etc.; appropriation and expenditure of funds.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this article, the provisions of Sections 11-52-4, 11-52-5 and 11-52-6 relative to organization, rules, staff, finances, procedure and miscellaneous powers and duties of municipal planning commissions shall, so far as applicable, apply to regional planning commissions.
Section 11-85-4
Adoption, etc., of master plan for physical development of region by commission; contents and purpose of plan.
Any regional planning commission is hereby authorized and empowered to make, adopt, amend, extend and add to a master regional plan for the physical development of its region. Such plan shall be based on comprehensive studies of the present and future development of the region with due regard to its relation to neighboring regions and the state as a whole and to neighboring states.
Such plan, including maps, charts, diagrams and descriptive matter, shall show the commission's recommendations for the physical development of the region and may include, among other things, the general location, extent and character of streets, parks and other public ways, grounds and open spaces, public buildings and properties and public utilities (whether publicly or privately owned or operated) which affect the development of the region as a whole or which affect more than one political subdivision of the state within the region, the general location of forests, agricultural and open development areas for purposes of conservation, food and water supply, sanitary and drainage facilities or the protection of future urban development and a zoning plan for the control of the height and area or bulk, location and use of buildings and premises and of the density of population.
Such master plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the region and of public improvements and utilities which do not begin and terminate within the boundaries of any single municipality or which do not relate exclusively to the development of any single municipality and which will, in accordance with the present and future needs of the region and the state, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development.
(Acts 1935, No. 534, p. 1126; Code 1940, T. 37, �811.)
Section 11-52-4
Municipal Planning Commission - Chairman and other officers; meetings; adoption of rules of procedure; maintenance of record of resolutions, transactions, etc.
The commission shall elect its chairman from among the appointed members and create and fill such other of its offices as it may determine. The term of office of the chairman shall be one year, with eligibility for reelection. The commission shall hold at least one regular meeting in each month. It shall adopt rules for transaction of business and shall keep a record of its resolutions, transactions, findings and determinations, which record shall be a public record.
(Acts 1935, No. 534, p. 1126; Code 1940, T. 37, �789.)
Section 11-52-5
Municipal Planning Commission - Appointment, etc., of employees; contracts with consultants, etc.; expenditure of funds.
(a) The commission may appoint such employees as it may deem necessary for its work, whose appointment, promotion, demotion and removal shall be subject to the same provisions of law as govern other corresponding civil employees of the municipality.
The commission may also contract with city planners, engineers, architects, and other consultants for such services as it may require.
(b) The expenditures of the commission, exclusive of gifts, shall be within the amounts appropriated for the purpose by the council, which shall provide the funds, equipment and accommodations necessary for the commission's work.
(Acts 1935, No. 534, p. 1126; Code 1940, T. 37, �790.)
Section 11-52-6
Municipal Planning Commission - Powers and duties generally.
(a) In general, the commission shall have such powers as may be necessary to enable it to fulfill its functions, promote municipal planning or carry out the purposes of this chapter.
(b) The commission shall have power to promote public interest in and understanding of the master plan and to that end may publish and distribute copies of the plan or of any report and may employ such other means of publicity and education as it may determine.
(c) Members of the commission, when duly authorized by the commission, may attend municipal planning conferences or meetings of municipal planning institutes or hearings upon pending municipal planning legislation, and the commission may, by resolution, spread upon its minutes, pay the reasonable traveling expenses incident to such attendance.
(d) The commission shall, from time to time, recommend to the appropriate public officials programs for public structures and improvements and for the financing thereof.
(e) It shall be part of the duties of the commission to consult and advise with public officials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational, professional and other organizations and with citizens with relation to the protecting or carrying out of the plan.
(f) The commission shall have the right to accept and use gifts for the exercise of its functions.
(g) All public officials shall, upon request, furnish to the commission within a reasonable time such available information as it may require for its work.
(h) The commission, its members, officers and employees, in the performance of their functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments and marks thereon.
(Acts 1935, No. 534, p. 1126; Code 1940, T. 37, �795.)
Section 11-52-8
Adoption, etc., of master plan for physical development of municipality by commission � Authorization and procedure generally; contents of plan.
It shall be the function and duty of the commission to make and adopt a master plan for the physical development of the municipality, including any areas outside of its boundaries which, in the commission's judgment, bear relation to the planning of such municipality.
Such plan, with the accompanying maps, plats, charts and descriptive matter shall show the commission's recommendations for the development of said territory, including, among other things, the general location, character and extent of streets, viaducts, subways, bridges, waterways, waterfronts, boulevards, parkways, playgrounds, squares, parks, aviation fields and other public ways, grounds and open spaces, the general location of public buildings and other public property, the general location and extent of public utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, for water, light, sanitation, transportation, communication, power and other purposes, the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of use or extension of any of the foregoing ways, grounds, open spaces, buildings, property, utilities or terminals; as well as a zoning plan for the control of the height, area, bulk, location, and use of buildings and premises.
As the work of making the whole master plan progresses, the commission may from time to time adopt and publish a part or parts thereof, any such part to cover one or more major sections or divisions of the municipality or one or more of the aforesaid or other functional matters to be included in the plan.
The commission may from time to time amend, extend or add to the plan.
(Acts 1935, No. 534, p. 1126; Code 1940, T. 37, �791.)
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