Email: Chapter 8, Article 28
PART I. DEFINITIONS; OPERATION OF AIRPORTS.
§8-28-1. Definitions.
When used in this article, the terms "airport" and "aircraft" shall have the meanings ascribed to them in section one, article two-a, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
§8-28-2. Establishment, lease and operation of airports by municipalities and counties; jurisdiction of county court.
Any municipality or county may acquire, establish, construct, lease, equip, improve, maintain and operate for such municipality or county an airport for the use of aircraft, and may acquire or lease for such purpose real property within or without or partly within and partly without the corporate limits of such municipality, or within or without or partly within and partly without such county, or may set apart and use for such purpose real property owned by the municipality or county, which is not needed for any other public use, however such real property was acquired. Any county court now owning or leasing or hereafter acquiring or leasing any real property without or partly without the limits of its county for the purpose of acquiring, establishing, constructing, improving, maintaining and operating an airport, shall have the same and all jurisdiction over such property, its maintenance and operation, as it has with respect to real property owned or leased and operated by it for airport purposes within the limits of its own county.
§8-28-3. Acquisition of property for airport; payment therefor.
Real property necessary for such airport may be acquired by gift, or by purchase if such municipality or county is able to agree with the owners of such real property on the terms thereof, and otherwise by condemnation, in the manner provided by law under which such municipality or county is authorized to acquire real property for public use. The purchase price or award for any property acquired for airport purposes may be paid by appropriation of moneys available therefor or wholly or partly from the proceeds of sale of the bonds of such municipality or county, as the governing body or county court shall determine, subject, however, to the general provisions of law for the issuance and sale of bonds of municipalities and counties for public purposes generally.
§8-28-4. Construction, maintenance and operation of airport; expenses; rules and regulations and fees.
The governing body or county court of such municipality or county may direct or employ or vest jurisdiction in any appropriate officer, board or body of such municipality or county to locate, acquire, establish, construct, lease, equip, improve, maintain and operate such airport for such municipality or county, but the site so located and the acquisition, establishment, construction, leasing, equipment, improvement, maintenance and operation of such airport shall be subject to the approval of such governing body or county court, as the case may be. The expense of the acquisition, establishment, construction, leasing, equipment, improvement, maintenance and operation shall be a municipal or county charge, as the case may be.
The governing body or county court may adopt rules and regulations and establish fees or charges for the use of such airport, or may authorize the officer, board or body of such municipality or county having jurisdiction to adopt such rules and regulations and establish such fees and charges, subject, however, to the approval of such governing body or county court before they shall take effect.
§8-28-5. Rules and regulations to control vehicular and pedestrian traffic within quarter mile of airport; violation of rule and regulation a misdemeanor; penalty.
(a) The governing body or county court is hereby empowered and authorized to adopt and promulgate rules and regulations to:
(1) Control the movement and disposition of vehicular and pedestrian traffic within 1/4 mile of any building or installation of any airport owned or operated or owned and operated by any such municipality or county court;
(2) Regulate and control vehicular parking within such areas by the installation of parking meters or by other methods; and
(3) Impose reasonable charges for the use of the parking space so metered or otherwise allocated, so as to provide maximum opportunity for the public use thereof.
(b) Violation of any such rule and regulation shall constitute a misdemeanor and, the offender, upon conviction in the manner provided by law, may be fined not less than $10 nor more than $30 for each such violation.
(c) Magistrates shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts and with statutory courts of record having criminal jurisdiction for the trial of offenses under this section.
PART III. JOINT OPERATION OF AIRPORTS.
§8-28-6. Airports maintained jointly; abandonment and sale thereof; suits concerning disposition, etc., of airport.
One or more municipalities or counties or both may join with another or other municipalities or counties or both for the purpose of acquiring, establishing, constructing, leasing, equipping, improving, maintaining and operating an airport. Any such airport may be located at such point as the governing bodies and county courts of the municipalities and counties joining therein may agree upon, and such municipalities and counties may raise, by levy or otherwise as provided in this article, funds for the purpose of acquiring, establishing, constructing, leasing, equipping, improving, maintaining and operating any such airport, and the municipalities and counties shall agree upon the proportionate part of the cost and expense of such airport to be paid by each municipality and county joining therein. The provisions of sections two, three, four, five, seven and eight of this article shall apply to any such joint airport, and as to section five, the rules and regulations authorized therein shall be jointly adopted and promulgated.
In case any such joint airport is abandoned and such airport is owned by such municipalities and counties, the same may be sold with the approval of the governing bodies and county courts of the municipalities and counties jointly owning same. The proceeds of such sale shall be distributed to the municipalities and counties in the proportion to which such municipalities and counties had contributed to the acquisition, establishment, construction, equipment, improvement, maintenance and operation of such airport. In case of a failure of the municipalities and counties to agree upon the disposition of such airport and the equipment thereat or connected therewith or used in its maintenance or operation, any one or more of the municipalities and counties interested therein may bring a suit in the circuit court of the county in which such airport or the major portion thereof is located, and upon a trial of the cause, held in the manner provided by law for other civil actions seeking equitable relief, the court shall make such decree or decrees with reference to the disposition of the property and distribution of the proceeds or other moneys involved as to the court may seem to the best interests of all the parties involved, and an appeal from any such decree or decrees to the Supreme Court of Appeals shall lie as in other civil actions.
PART IV. LEASE OF AIRPORTS TO OTHERS.
§8-28-7. State and political subdivisions empowered and authorized to lease airports and grounds to others.
The state, acting through the aeronautics commission, or any municipality or county, owning, either severally or jointly with other governmental units, an airport and any grounds used or useful in connection therewith may severally or jointly lease the same to others, for use as an airport and for any other purposes incidental to and not inconsistent therewith, for a term not exceeding thirty years: Provided, That no lease shall be executed by such owner or owners of any such airport or grounds unless and until such owner or owners shall have given notice by publication of the following described notice as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the state if it is the state which proposes to make such lease or the political subdivision or subdivisions involved if it is a political subdivision or subdivisions which propose to make such lease. The notice shall state its or their intent to lease said airport or grounds, shall accurately describe what is proposed to be leased, the purpose or purposes for which the same may be used and the terms of said lease, shall state the time and place for the public opening of proposals for such lease, and shall reserve the right to reject any and all proposals. Nothing herein contained, however, shall prevent such owner or owners of any such airport or grounds from granting or renting landing rights for airplanes, hangar space, gasoline storage space, handling facilities, ticket or general office space, or any other facilities or rights in connection with such airport or grounds, covering or affecting less than the whole thereof, without notice and upon such terms as such owner or owners may deem advisable. All income received by a municipality or county court under the terms of any such lease or grant shall be paid to the state sinking fund commission to retire the bonded indebtedness, if any, created for the acquisition, establishment, construction, equipment, improvement, maintenance and operation of such airport or grounds, and if there be no such outstanding bonded indebtedness, then such income shall be paid into the General Funds of such municipality or county.
PART V. FUNDS FOR AIRPORTS.
§8-28-8. Levy for airport; funds for its maintenance and operation.
The governing body of a municipality or the county court of a county to which this article is applicable may lay a levy, not to exceed 5¢ on each $100 of valuation, for a period not exceeding three years, and appropriate therefrom funds for the purpose of acquiring, establishing, constructing, equipping or improving an airport. Funds necessary for providing maintenance and operating expenses for such airport may be appropriated out of the General Funds of the municipality or county: Provided, That nothing contained herein shall in any way affect any rights, powers and privileges of any municipality or county court under any special act of the Legislature providing for the laying of levies or the expenditure of funds for acquiring, establishing, constructing, equipping, improving, maintaining or operating an airport.
PART VI. MUNICIPALITIES IN ADJOINING STATES
AND AIRPORT LAND IN THIS STATE.
§8-28-9. Construction, maintenance and operation of airports by municipalities of an adjoining state; acquisition of property therefor; property tax exempt.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a municipality organized and existing under the laws of an adjoining state, the nearest corporate limits thereof being not more than ten miles distant from the nearest boundary of this state, may acquire or lease real property situate within this state, the nearest boundary of such real property being not greater than ten miles from the nearest corporate limits of such municipality of an adjoining state, for use in connection with the acquisition, establishment, construction, lease, equipment, improvement, maintenance or operation for such municipality of an adjoining state of an airport exclusively for nonprofit public use; and any such municipality shall have the right to acquire real property necessary for such airport by gift or by purchase, and otherwise by condemnation, and the use of real property in this state under the provisions hereof shall be deemed to be a public use for which private property may be taken or damaged, for just compensation. All property, real and personal, acquired, held and used in this state pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be public property and therefore exempt from taxation in the manner provided by section nine, article three, chapter eleven of this code.