The city council may, after examination and review thereon, consent to the vacation of public easements upon a request initiated by the planning commission, or any person, firm, or a corporation pursuant to the following procedure:

(a)

An application on the prescribed form shall be submitted in writing to the department of community development no fewer than thirty (30) days prior to the regularly scheduled meeting of the planning commission and must be accompanied by an adjacent property owners list, deed (proof of ownership), legal description of the easement proposed to be vacated, a current survey, and a map, showing the location of the subject easement and all abutting properties and nearest rights-of-way.

(b)

The applicant shall be responsible for obtaining an easement release, on a form provided by the city, from all utilities that have facilities located within five hundred (500) feet of the easement proposed to be vacated. Such form shall contain a request that the utility consent in writing to the vacation or submit written objection thereto. Such written responses shall be provided to the city at the time the application is submitted.

(c)

The application shall be reviewed by the planning commission at its next regular meeting and the planning commission shall set forth a recommendation to the city council.

(d)

Prior to acting on an application to vacate an easement, a public hearing thereon shall be held by the city council with proper notice as required by law. Due notice shall also be given to all abutting property owners of the date, time, and place of said hearing.

Said notice of a vacation of easement shall be published in full for one (1) insertion in a newspaper of general circulation published in the municipality prior to the said public hearing by the city council.

(e)

Said easement or right-of-way shall be vacated and/or relocated upon the consent by resolution of the city council, a certified copy of which shall be recorded in the Office of the Judge of Probate of Baldwin County following the adoption of such resolution.

(f)

Any petition for vacation of easement may be withdrawn prior to action thereon by the planning commission or city council at the discretion of the applicant upon written notice to the planning coordinator in the department of community development or city clerk in the city clerk's office, whichever is applicable.

(Ord. No. 2025-11, § I, 6-16-25)

The city council may, after examination and review thereon, consent to the vacation of public rights-of-way, in whole or in part, upon a petition submitted by the owner or owners of land abutting any street, alley or dedicated public way, including unused rights-of-way, pursuant to the following procedures:

(a)

A written petition, as described in Code of Ala. § 23-4-20, or a written declaration, as described in Code of Ala. § 35-2-54, as applicable shall be submitted to the department of community development no fewer than thirty (30) days prior to the regularly scheduled meeting of the planning commission and must be accompanied by an adjacent property owners list, deed (proof of ownership), legal description of the right-of-way or portion there of proposed to be vacated, a current survey, and a map showing the location of the subject right-of-way and all abutting properties.

(b)

The application shall be reviewed by the planning commission at its next regular meeting and the planning commission shall set forth a recommendation to the city council.

(c)

Prior to acting on an application to vacate an easement, a public hearing thereon shall be held by the city council with proper notice shall also be served by U.S. mail at least thirty (30) days prior to the scheduled public hearing on any abutting owners and on any entity known to have facilities or equipment such as utility lines, both above ground or buried, within the public right-of-way of the street or alley or portion thereof, to be vacated.

In accordance with Ala. Act 1973-386, notice of the public hearing shall also be published in a newspaper published in the city for three (3) consecutive weeks. Such notice must contain both a legal description and a layman's general description of the street, alley, highway or portion thereof to be vacated.

(d)

Said right-of-way shall be vacated upon consent by resolution of the city council, a certified copy of which shall be recorded in the Office of the Judge of Probate of Baldwin county following the adoption of such resolution. If the request for vacation was submitted by written declaration as described in Code of Ala. § 35-2-54, a certified copy of said resolution shall be recorded by the declarant(s) as an attachment to the declaration of vacation.

(e)

Notice of the city council's action shall be published once in a newspaper in the county no later than fourteen (14) days after the resolution's adoption.

(Ord. No. 2025-11, § I, 6-16-25)

An application to the planning commission for vacation of easement and/or right-of-way shall be accompanied by the appropriate fee as more specifically enumerated in Article XXXIV, Schedule of Fees.

(Ord. No. 2025-11, § I, 6-16-25)