• Pine Level Incorporation

    The Time is NOW to Incorporate

  • Pine Level: A Place to Call Home

  • Incorporating Gives You a Voice

Scroll down for Frequently Asked Questions Scroll down for Pine Level Incorporation Map
How can Incorporating Benefit The Citizens of Pine Level?
  • It gives you a voice in the growth and development of the town—Incorporation will allow organized and controlled growth & gives the opportunity to define the identity of the community.
  • It offers better opportunities for the children in our community— Better sports complexes, parks and biking trails could become a reality plus it gives the ability to raise revenue by taxation which will allow Pine Level to improve and maintain parks and recreation areas.
  • Improvement of local services—The Pine Level Fire Dept will continue to serve the community but with more support.
Why Incorporate
Towns are often incorporated to keep their feel of community and to keep from being annexed by a larger town or city. Communities incorporate to have more control over the area where they live.Incorporation allows orderly growth. Through the power of the municipality to plan, the future development of the community is protected.
Did You Know…
Incorporation does not mean becoming a city. In fact, Autaugaville, Deatsville, and Billingsley are incorporated. Incorporating will give the citizens of Pine Level greater autonomy through local government and zoning boards. Currently, taxes get divided up between the incorporated towns of Autauga County. 2021 Federal Allocations in millions:Prattville — 6.88Autaugaville — .16Deatsville (Elmore County) — .23Pine Level — 0Billingsley — .03

Incorporation:

The Facts

  • The community must have 300 people to incorporate.
  • Residences must be contiguous
  • A petition must be signed by at least 15 percent of the qualified electors residing within the limits of the proposed municipality and then submitted to the county’s probate judge. This petition serves as the application.
  • No territory may be included unless there are at least 4 qualified electors residing on each quarter of each quarter section (40 acres) who agree to incorporation by signing the petition.
  • The probate judge will order an election within 90 days after submission of application.
  • Election will be held within the boundaries of the proposed municipality.
  • After incorporation, homeowners can request to be annexed into the town.
Note: Information taken from the Alabama League of Municipalities booklet “Incorporating a Municipalitiy.”

Pine Level Incorporation Map

For a full-size map, click map below

Frequently Asked Questions

1. I don’t want anyone telling me what to do.
In any society we have rules and regulations, whether Federal, State, or County. Without them we would not have the freedoms that we enjoy today. Incorporation does not mean that the freedom we have will be taken away. Many of the smaller towns around us have few regulations. They have only enough to protect the citizens in the town limits. Who wants to have apartments, junkyards, or even hog parlors built next to their property.
2. What happens if a municipality annexes property close to I-65 in Autauga County?
This is an area that the citizens in Pine Level need to be concerned about. The Alabama legislature may decide to repeal a 2021 law that limits planning jurisdiction. Planning jurisdiction has been reduced to 1 and ½ miles but can be extended by growth. Cities have the ability to:
  • establish ordinances to levy and assess taxes and/or fees within the police jurisdiction.
  • ordinances to fix and collect licenses for any business, trade, or profession done within the police jurisdiction.
Municipalities also have the ability to establish Planning Jurisdiction. Alabama Code Title 11. Counties and Municipal Corporations § 11-52-30 states the following” Except as otherwise provided herein, the territorial jurisdiction of any municipal planning commission shall include all land located in the municipality and all land lying within five miles of the corporate limits of the municipality and not located in any other municipality. While this applies primarily to new subdivision construction, cities have used this to try and require businesses to meet their planning standards. A local example is Kendrick Farms at the Interstate. After buying the property and beginning the remodeling process, they were approached by the City of Prattville and informed that they were in the Prattville Planning Jurisdiction. The city told them that they had to add a sprinkler system in the facility and also install fire proof doors. Planning Jurisdiction is complicated and there is a lot of confusion about what is allowed and what is not.
3. I moved out here to live in the county, not the city.
So did many of us. However, whether we incorporate or not, the Pine Level area will continue to grow with new businesses, homes and apartments. By incorporation, we can at least have some control over the growth and a voice in what we want the Pine Level area to become. The Pine Level area has been rated by some groups as the top site for residential and retail development in Alabama. You will start to see a lot more development soon.
4. I don’t want to pay more in taxes.
None of us like to pay taxes. However, we will be paying much higher sales tax if another municipality annexes property in the area. Municipalities do not want to annex residential homes; they want to annex businesses. There is no debate, if we do nothing, we will have a municipality in our area. If this happens, we will be paying a higher sales tax and the tax dollars will go to that municipality. Pine Level will receive no benefit from those tax dollars. If we incorporate, we will have a lower sales tax and the citizens of Pine Level will determine how the money will be spent. Its impact will be in Pine Level, not Prattville or Millbrook.
5. What happens to Pine Level if a neighboring city extends their police jurisdiction to the 31/I-65 interchange?
The state legislature passed a law in 2021 that does not allow municipalities to extend their three-mile police jurisdiction. However, this was opposed by the Alabama League of Municipalities so there is the possibility the legislature will repeal this law in the future. If this law is repealed, and if a municipality is able to annex property in the 31/65 interchange, the three-mile police jurisdiction would reach to Pine Level Elementary School. Alabama State Law allows municipalities to: Establish ordinances to levy and assess taxes and/or fees within the police jurisdiction.
6. I do not feel that I can trust any elected officials.
The way some elected officials behave and are seen through the media, it is understandable that you would not be able to trust elected officials. However, there are fine, upstanding people in the Pine Level area and you will have the opportunity to vote for the elected officials that you can trust once the town is incorporated.
7. Will the town have to take over responsibility for roads two years after incorporation?
As other towns in our county (Billingsley and Autaugaville) have done, we can enter into a contract with the county commission to continue to service the roads. We will receive approximately $70,000 per year from gas taxes based on our initial population. This amount will increase as the town’s population increases.
8. I have a farm with farm animals. Will the town take my animals away?
Areas can be zoned for farmland. Cities such as Montgomery, Millbrook and Prattville allow their citizens to raise a variety of animals. As one resident of Millbrook said “I have chickens, and around me there are goats, chickens, donkeys, pigs and more.” If you currently have livestock, the use of your property would be grandfathered in no matter what the zoning is. That means you can continue to keep livestock.

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