AIRW 2017-7, L.P.; 600 Westinghouse Investments, LLC; 800 Westinghouse Investments, LLC; Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; And Jonah Water Special Utility District v. City of Georgetown, Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided January 29, 2025·No. 15-24-00132-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 15-24-00132-CV FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 1/29/2025 5:07 PM CASE NO. 15-24-00132-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK AIRW 2017-7, L.P.; 600 § BEFORE THE FILED IN WESTINGHOUSE § 15th COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS INVESTMENTS, LLC; 800 § 1/29/2025 5:07:57 PM WESTINGHOUSE § CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE INVESTMENTS, LLC; TEXAS § Clerk COMMISSION ON § ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY; § AND JONAH WATER SPECIAL § FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS UTILITY DISTRICT, § Appellants, § § V. § § CITY OF GEORGETOWN, § TEXAS, § OF TEXAS Appellee §

APPELLANT, JONAH WATER SPECIAL UTILITY DISTRICT’S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE NOTICE OF APPEAL

Appellant, Jonah Water Special Utility District files this Motion for Extension

of Time to File Notice of Appeal pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 26.3 and would

respectfully show:

Appellant is appealing from a Final Judgment signed by the 261st District

Court, Travis County on December 2, 2024, in the case styled City of Georgetown

v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Cause No. D-1-GN-23-001004.

The deadline to file the Notice of Appeal was January 2, 2025. The Notice of Appeal

was filed in the trial court on January 14, 2025. Appellant seeks an extension of time

until January 14, 2025, to file the Notice of Appeal.

1 Appellant is a special utility district, a political subdivision of the State of

Texas operating under Texas Water Code Chapter 65 1. As a governmental body,

Appellant is subject to Texas Government Code Chapter 551, otherwise known as

the Open Meeting Act (the “Act”). 2 The Act requires, among other things, that

deliberations by the Board occur at a meeting open to the public after the requisite

notice has been provided. 3 The requirements of the Act affected the timing for filing

Appellants appeal in this matter. The Appellant was notified of the Trial Court’s

Final Judgment after the 72-hour deadline for posting notice of Appellant’s

December 5, 2024, meeting as required by Section 551.043(a) of the Act.4 After this

date, Appellant observed the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, with limited

availability of Board members during this period. The next available opportunity for

the governing body to deliberate about the Final Judgment and decide whether

appeal was appropriate was at the Board’s January meeting, originally scheduled for

January 2, 2025, also the deadline for Appellant’s Notice of Appeal. This meeting

1 Tex. Water Code Chapter 65 addresses the creation, governance, administration, general powers and duties, and some of the financial authority of special utility districts in Texas. 2 Tex. Govt. Code §551.001(3)(H) defines a governmental body to mean the governing board of a special district created by law. 3 Section 551.043(a) requires that notice of a meeting of a governmental body must be posted in a place readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting. 4 The Trial Court’s Final Judgment was accepted for filing by the Clerk at 11:50 am on December 2, 2024, but electronic notice from the Travis County Clerk’s Office for this docket is time and date stamped for 9:58 am on December 3, 2024. The postcard Notice of Order is dated December 26, 2024, post-parked December 31, 2024, and was received January 3, 2025.

2 was postponed to January 9, 2025, impacting the timing for filing this appeal. This

extension of time is necessary to allow for the additional time between the deadline

for the Notice of Appeal and the Board’s open meeting to deliberate whether to file

this Appeal. This extension of time is not sought for the purposes of delay, but so

that justice may be done.

For these reasons, Appellant respectfully requests that the Court grant this

motion and extend the deadline to file the Notice of Appeal until January 14, 2025,

the date Appellant filed its Notice of Appeal. Appellant also requests all other relief

to which Appellant is justly entitled.

Erin R. Selvera John J. Carlton State Bar No. 03817600 Kelli A. N. Carlton State Bar No. 15091175 Erin R. Selvera State Bar No. 24043385 THE CARLTON LAW FIRM, P.L.L.C. 4301 Westbank Drive, Suite B-130 Austin, Texas 78746 john@carltonlawaustin.com kelli@carltonlawaustin.com erin@carltonlawaustin.com Telephone: (512) 614-0901 Facsimile: (512) 900-2855 ATTORNEYS FOR JONAH WATER SPECIAL UTILITY DISTRICT

3 VERIFICATION

STATE OF TEXAS § § COUNTYOFTRAVIS §

BEFORE ME, the undersigned notary public, on this day personally appeared Erin Selvera, Attorney for Appellant, Jonah Water Special Utility District, who being duly sworn, stated that she has read this motion and that the statements therein are within her personal knowledge and are true and correct.

Erin R. Selvera

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN BEFORE ME this the 29 th day of January 2025.

(Seal) \,1_.111 u , Katy H • ~ "!·""• $~·; . . ..... , ",,,. ... < ,;, ennmgs ff,'*,.,;\ Notary Public, State ofTcxas =•· •·: \_~~---_/,:,/ Comm. Expircs0S/18/2025 "'

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

I certify that I confe1Ted with counsel for the Appellee regarding this motion and that Appellee is opposed to this motion.

Erin R. Selvera

4 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that I have served or will serve a true and correct copy of the foregoing document on all parties of record on this 29th day of January 2025, as follows:

FOR APPELLEE, CITY OF FOR APPELLANT AIRW 2017-7, GEORGETOWN: L.P., 600 WESTINGHOUSE William A. Faulk, III INVESTMENTS, LLC AND 800 Carlota Hopinks-Baul WESTINGHOUSE Maris M. Chambers INVESTMENTS, LLC Spencer Fane, LLP Andrew B. Davis 816 Congress Avenue, Suite 1200 William T. Thompson Austin, Texas 78701 Todd Disher cfaulk@spencerfane.com Lehotsky Keller Cohn, LLP chbaul@spencerfane.com 408 W. 11th Street, 5th Floor mchambers@spencerfane.com Austin, Texas 78701 Patricia Erlinger Carls andrew@lkcfirm.com Law Offices of Patricia Erlinger Carls will@lkcfrim.com 3100 Glenview Ave. todd@lkcfirm.com Austin, Texas 78703-1443 Helen S. Gilbert tcarls@tcarlslaw.com Yahaira De Lara Barton Benson Jones, PLLC FOR APPELLANT TCEQ: 7000 North MoPac Expressway Sara J. Ferris Suite 200 Office of the Attorney General Austin, Texas 78731 Environmental Protection Division hgilbert@bartonbensonjones.com P.O. Box 12548, MC-066 ydelara@bartonbensonjones.com Austin, Texas 78711-2548 sara.ferris@oag.texas.gov Edmond McCarthy McCarthy & McCarthy, LLP 1122 Colorado St. Suite 2399 Austin, TX 78701 ed@ermlawfirm.com

Erin R. Selvera

5 Automated Certificate of eService This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system. The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Katy Hennings on behalf of John Joseph Carlton Bar No. 3817600 katy@carltonlawaustin.com Envelope ID: 96764361 Filing Code Description: Motion Filing Description: Jonah Water Special Utility District's Motion for Extension of Time Status as of 1/30/2025 8:03 AM CST

Associated Case Party: City of Georgetown

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Patricia Carls 3813425 tcarls@tcarlslaw.com 1/29/2025 5:07:57 PM SENT

Carlota Hopinks-Baul 24094039 chbaul@spencerfane.com 1/29/2025 5:07:57 PM SENT

Maris Chambers MChambers@spencerfane.com 1/29/2025 5:07:57 PM SENT

Case Contacts

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

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