Talladega County residents oppose expansion of Lincoln police jurisdiction

Lincoln's city motto is "Come Grow With Us", but some property owners are trying to fight back against the growth of the city's police jurisdiction.

Citizens Against Lincoln Expansion wants the city to stop enforcing codes on people who live in unincorporated parts of Talladega County.

Lincoln Mayor Bud Kitchin said Alabama state law allows the city to enforce building permit ordinances inside the police jurisdiction, which extends three miles outside the city limits.

The Lincoln police jurisdiction extended 1.5 miles beyond the city limits, but expanded to three miles when the population surpassed 6,000 people in the 2010 census.  Parts of the jurisdiction are even more than three miles from the main part of Lincoln, because the city annexed some isolated areas.

Lincoln Harbor is about four miles from the southwest corner of Lincoln proper.  There is also an 80 acre property near Oxford.  The three-mile radius around each of these properties overlaps with the three-mile radius from the main city, so everything in between is part of the city's jurisdiction.

The fight against Lincoln expansion began more than a year ago when a chicken farmer said the city cost him $40,000.

State senator Jim McClendon moderated a meeting Monday morning between the mayor, members of the Lincoln City Council and Talladega County Commission, and Citizens Against Lincoln Expansion.

McClendon said the legislature can pass a statutory revision to determine a solution if the city and county cannot.  However, he said it preferable for the local sides to come up with a resolution that is satisfactory to both sides "without involving folks in Montgomery."