Request By:
Mr. Steve Bourne
Senior Planner
Hopkinsville-Christian County Planning Commission
P.O. Box 1125
Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42240
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of July 29, in which the question has been raised concerning the legality of the adoption of two sets of goals and objectives, one pertaining to the city and one to the county, in one comprehensive plan. You have enclosed copies of both plans, one relating to the corporate limits of the city of Hopkinsville and the other to the unincorporated portion of Christian County.
KRS 100.193 requires the planning commission of each planning unit (which means in this instance the city and county) to prepare and adopt a statement of objectives and principles to act as a guide for the preparation of the remaining elements of the comprehensive plan. The statement shall then be presented for consideration, amendment and adoption by the legislative body of the city and the fiscal court in the planning unit. See
Daviess Cty. v. Snyder, Ky., 556 S.W.2d 688 (1977).
Obviously the city has different goals and objectives than that of the county and any joint statement adopted by the planning unit must necessarily reflect the objectives and plans applicable to each member of the unit and its particular jurisdictional needs. Therefore, we see no legal objection to incorporating and combining the objectives, goals and standards needed for each political subdivision referred to in the enclosed statements, which would be required under the referred to statute. In this respect we call your attention to the case of