The appellants, the Screven County Planning Commission and other local officials the “Planning Commission”, appeal from the trial court’s judgment granting mandamus relief to the appellee, Southern States Plantation “SSP”. The trial court ruled that SSP was entitled to have the Planning Commission approve its sketch plan for a subdivision it planned to build in Screven County. We conclude that the trial court properly interpreted a provision of the Land Development Regulations of Screven County in favor of SSP, but that the trial court erred in granting mandamus relief. We thus affirm the trial court’s judgment in part and reverse in part. In 2002, SSP submitted a sketch plan to the Planning Commission for the development of Runs Branch Subdivision. The plan called for the development of 32 lots. Under the plan, some of the lot owners in the subdivision would access the subdivision through two existing, unpaved county roads. The Planning Commission was concerned with whether the two unpaved county roads should be paved as a condition to approving the sketch plan. In this regard, the Planning Commission discussed both Section 6.1 and 6.8 of the Land Development Regulations. As for road or street requirements, Section 6.1 provides that “small subdivisions,” consisting of six to ten lots, shall have “paved streets, provided, however, that paving shall not be required if all lots are located on the right-of-way of an existing county road.” As for “intermediate subdivisions” such as Runs Branch, consisting of 11 to 49 lots, Section 6.1 simply states that there shall be “paved streets.” Section 6.8 provides that the Planning Commission “shall not approve a subdivision in a location where the existing roads providing primary access are inadequate to serve the additional traffic generated by the development.” Although the Planning Commission discussed Section 6.8 and expressed concern that the existing, unpaved roads were inadequate to serve the additional traffic generated by the subdivision, the Planning Commission made no finding based on Section 6.8. Instead, the Planning Commission stated that it interpreted Section 6.1 to require the paving of the county roads, and it specifically denied the sketch plan based on that interpretation. Moreover, on appeal to the Board of Commissioners, the Board also specifically stated that it would uphold the Planning Commission’s decision on the ground that Section 6.1 required the paving of the county roads.
After the Board of Commissioners upheld the decision of the Planning Commission, SSP filed this mandamus action in superior court. The court ruled that Section 6.1 was ambiguous regarding whether it required the paving of existing county roads or whether it only required the paving of interior streets built as part of the subdivision. After finding this ambiguity, the court construed the regulation in favor of SSP, and held that the Planning Commission could not require the paving of the county roads under Section 6.1. The court then ruled that, “as evidence was presented which showed that the development of Runs Branch would not have a significant impact on traffic in the area, SSP has a vested right to the approval of their sketch plan.”
