Could a Kentucky property owner start an amendment to the zoning ordinance text?

Plain-English summary

A Grant County property owner asked to propose a change to the text of a zoning ordinance. The Kentucky Attorney General said in 2012 that KRS 100.211(2) reserved the power to originate text amendments to the planning commission and specified public bodies. The same statute separately allowed an owner to originate a zoning map amendment. Because the legislature had omitted owners from the text-amendment list, a joint local ordinance could not grant them that power.

The opinion did not say an owner could not ask officials to consider a change. It answered who could formally originate a text-amendment proposal under the statute then in force.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2012. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Historical summary

Property owners

The AG distinguished a change to zoning boundaries on a map from a change to the regulation's text. The 2012 statute let an owner originate the former, but not the latter. The owner described in the request had sought a text amendment in Crittenden.

Planning commissions and local legislators

KRS 100.211(2) named the planning commission, a fiscal court, or a legislative body that was a member of the unit as entities able to originate a zoning text amendment. The AG said a local ordinance mirroring the map-amendment rule for owners conflicted with this state scheme and was invalid to that extent.

Common questions

Could a landowner formally propose a zoning map amendment?

Yes. The AG quoted KRS 100.211(1) as allowing an owner of the property in question to originate a map-amendment proposal.

Could that same owner formally propose a change to zoning text?

No. Under the 2012 opinion's reading of KRS 100.211(2), only the named public bodies could originate a text amendment.

Could a city ordinance add property owners to the text-amendment list?

The AG said no. It treated the ordinance's contrary provision as invalid to the extent it purported to give owners a power omitted from the state statute.

Background and statutory framework

The request came from counsel for the Grant County Planning Commission after an owner sought a Crittenden zoning text change. The AG compared KRS 100.211(1)'s map-amendment origins with KRS 100.211(2)'s narrower text-amendment origins. It applied the rule that a local zoning ordinance must stay within the state's delegated authority.

Citations and references

• KRS 100.211(1): property owners listed among those who could originate a zoning map amendment.
• KRS 100.211(2): planning commission and public-body origins for a text amendment.

Source

• Landing page: https://kdla.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_cf9c3821-22de-436d-bc98-72ffcd3d3687/
• Original PDF: https://kdla.access.preservica.com/download/file/IO_cf9c3821-22de-436d-bc98-72ffcd3d3687

Original opinion text

OAG 12-015
October 05, 2012
Subject:

Whether a property owner may propose a zoning text
amendment

Requested by:

Thomas R. Nienaber
Counsel, Grant County Planning Commission

Written by:

Matt James

Syllabus:

A property owner may not propose a zoning text
amendment.

Statutes construed:

KRS 100.211

Opinion of the Attorney General
Thomas R. Nienaber, counsel for the Grant County Planning Commission has requested an opinion from this office whether a property owner may propose a zoning text amendment. We advise that a property owner may not. Mr. Nienaber informs us that an individual property owner requested a text amendment to a zoning ordinance of the City of Crittenden (“Crittenden”). The owner was referred to the Grant County Planning Commission, which advised the owner that a property owner may not propose a text amendment on the grounds that KRS 100.211(2) only allows a planning commission, fiscal court, or legislative body to propose a text amendment. The owner subsequently requested a text amendment from Crittenden, which maintained that a property owner may propose a text amendment pursuant to a joint ordinance of Grant

OAG 12-015
Page 2

County, the City of Corbin, and Crittenden (“ordinance”). At issue is
whether a property owner may propose a text amendment to a zoning
ordinance, and whether a city may pass an ordinance allowing a property owner to do so. KRS 100.211(2) provides that “a proposal to amend the text of any zoning regulation… may originate with the planning commission of the unit or with any fiscal court or legislative body which is a member of the unit.” The ordinance provides that “a proposal for an amendment to this ordinance may originate with the planning commission, the legislative body, or with the owner of the property in question.” Grant County, Corbin, and Crittenden, Ky., Zoning Ordinance art. 17, ¶ B. The ordinance mirrors language from KRS 100.211(1), which provides that “a proposal for a zoning map amendment may originate with the planning commission of the unit, with any fiscal court or legislative body which is a member of the unit, or with an owner of the property in question.” KRS 100.211(1) explicitly allows that a property owner may originate a proposal for a zoning map amendment, but KRS 100.211(2) does not include the property owner in of the list of entities that may propose a zoning text amendment. The power to enact zoning regulations derives from the police power of the state. The state may delegate such power to its political subdivisions, but that delegation of power is strictly construed. “The city's power to zone is derived solely from express authority conferred on the municipality by the state legislature… The city cannot exercise police power in enacting a zoning ordinance unless the right has been given by the legislature.” Southeastern Displays, Inc. v. Ward, 414 S.W.2d 573, 575 (Ky. 1967). While the legislature did allow property owners to propose zoning map amendments in the delegation of its zoning power, it did not allow property owners to propose zoning text amendments. “The enumeration of particular items excludes other items that are not specifically mentioned.” Com. v. Harris, 59 S.W.3d 896, 900 (Ky. 2001). Thus property owners are excluded by statute from those entities that may propose zoning text amendments. Since property owners are excluded by statute from proposing zoning text amendments, a political subdivision may not give them

OAG 12-015
Page 3

that power by ordinance. “Any authorized political subdivision that
wants to adopt zoning regulations and subdivision regulations must
comply with Chapter 100. When the state has preempted a field, the
city must follow that scheme or refrain from planning.” Sebastian-Voor
Properties, LLC v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, 265
S.W.3d 190, 193 (Ky. 2008). The ordinance granting property owners
the right to propose a zoning text amendment goes beyond the statutory scheme set down by the legislature, and is therefore invalid. In sum, while a property owner may propose a zoning map amendment under KRS 100.211(1), an owner may not propose a zoning text amendment under KRS 100.211(2). Any ordinance conferring the power to propose a zoning text amendment on property owners conflicts with the statutory scheme set by the legislature, and is invalid to the extent it purports to do so.

JACK CONWAY
ATTORNEY GENERAL

Matt James
Assistant Attorney General