Southside Real Estate Developers, Inc. v. Pike County Fiscal Court
2008-CA-001534 9/4/09 2009 WL 2835138 Released for pub.
Opinion by Judge VanMeter; Judges Lambert and Moore concurred. The Court affirmed an order of the circuit court finding that a county fiscal court’s failure to comply with the requirements of KRS 67.0802 in its decision to exchange property conveyed to it from the federal government, after completion of a flood control project prevented appellant from maintaining an action to compel conveyance of the property from the fiscal court.
The Court first held that the trial court properly concluded that the decision to exchange the property did not comply with statute, which required either a transfer to another governmental agency or a public sale by auction or sealed bid. The Court then held that the requirements of the statute were not preempted by federal law so that the only requirement for transfer of the property would be the approval of the federal government. The Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act, under
which the flood control project was initiated, did not manifest Congressional intent to preempt state requirements on the transfer of real estate owned by counties; no express preemption existed; and compliance with both federal and state requirements concerning the transfer of real property was not physically impossible.
