Request By:
Mr. Michael B. Dolan, Jr.
Property Valuation Administrator
269 West Vine Street
Lexington, Kentucky 40507
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: William S. Riley, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter to the Attorney General the question is whether KRS 132.450(2)(b) is constitutional when read in connection with Section 172A of the Kentucky Constitution. Section 172A of the Kentucky Constitution reads in part as follows:
Not withstanding contrary provisions of Section 171, 172 or 174 of this Constitution --
The General Assembly shall provide by general law for the assessment for ad valorem tax purposes of agricultural and horticultural land according to the land's value for agricultural or horticultural use. The General Assembly may provide that any change in land use from agricultural or horticultural use shall require the levy of an additional tax not to exceed the additional amount that would have been owing had the land been assessed under Section 172 of this Constitution for the current year and the two preceding years. (Emphasis added)
KRS 132.450(2)(b) reads:
(b) Land devoted to agricultural or horticultural use, where the owners have petitioned for, and been granted, a zoning classification other than for agricultural or horticultural purposes is excluded from the provisions of paragraph (g) of this subsection. (Emphasis added)
"zoning" or "zoning classification" is concerned with the use of property. See Purtill v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission of Town of Glastonbury, 153 A.2d 441, 443, 146 Conn. 570. "Zoning" imposes restrictions on the use of land itself which attach to and run with land. See Orme v. Atlas Gas & Oil Company, 13 N.W.2d 757, 761, 217 Minn 27. In Seligman et al. v. Belknap et al., 288 Ky., 133, 155 S.W.2d 735 (1941) the Court of Appeals pointed out that "zoning" relates to the regulation of the use of property.
It would appear from an examination of KRS 132.450(2)(b) in connection with Section 172A of the Kentucky Constitution that the statute is in harmony with the constitutional section when it refers to a zoning classification other than for agricultural or horticultural purposes since such zoning classification is a change in the use of property as provided for in Section 172A of the Constitution.