City of Rockwall v. Hughes

246 S.W.3d 621, 51 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 349, 2008 Tex. LEXIS 71, 2008 WL 204500
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 2008
Docket05-0126
StatusPublished
Cited by1,163 cases

This text of 246 S.W.3d 621 (City of Rockwall v. Hughes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Rockwall v. Hughes, 246 S.W.3d 621, 51 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 349, 2008 Tex. LEXIS 71, 2008 WL 204500 (Tex. 2008).

Opinions

Justice JOHNSON

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice WAINWRIGHT, Justice MEDINA, and Justice GREEN joined.

A municipality generally must annex land pursuant to a plan giving three years’ notice of its intent to annex. If an area is exempt from the three-year notice requirement, then annexation can take place by use of abbreviated procedures with less notice of a city’s intent to annex.

In this case, a landowner sought inclusion in the City of Rockwall’s three-year annexation plan. The City denied the request, claimed the proposed annexation was statutorily exempt from the three-year requirement, and gave notice of intent to annex the landowner’s territory under abbreviated procedures. The landowner requested that the City arbitrate the dispute. "When the City refused, the landowner sought a court order compelling arbitration. The trial court refused to compel arbitration and dismissed the landowner’s case for lack of jurisdiction. The court of appeals held that the City must arbitrate. We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and affirm the trial court’s judgment dismissing the suit.

I. Background

A. Annexation Law

The Texas Constitution confers on cities the power to annex land. Tex. Const, art. XI, § 5. The Legislature prescribes procedures to be used by cities in conducting annexations. See Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code ch. 43;1 Alexander Oil Co. v. City of Seguin, 825 S.W.2d 434, 439 (Tex.1991). Statutory annexation procedures require municipalities to prepare annexation plans specifically identifying areas which may be annexed beginning on the third anniversary of the date the plan is adopted or amended (a “three-year plan”). See Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code § 43.052(c). Subchapter 43C sets out annexation procedures for areas included in such three-year plans. See id. §§ 43.051-057.

Section 43.052(h) lists several types of exemptions from three-year plans. One type of area exempted is a “sparsely-populated” area. Id. § 43.052(h)(i). If an area is exempt from inclusion in a three-year plan, annexation occurs according to procedures set out in subchapter 43C-1. See id. § 43.061 (“This subchapter applies to an area proposed for annexation that is not required to be included in a municipal annexation plan under Section 43.052.”). [624]*624Annexations of section 43.052(h)(() sparsely-populated areas may be initiated subject to 30 days’ notice of the first hearing on the proposed annexation. Id. § 43.062(b). Annexations under subchapter 43C-1 procedures generally must be completed within ninety days of the time proceedings are begun. Id. § 43.064. Cities are prohibited from using the section 43.052(h)(1) “sparsely populated” exemption to circumvent requirements that annexations be pursuant to a three-year plan. Id. § 43.052®.

The controversy before us primarily involves subsections 43.052(c), (h), and (i) which in pertinent part provide as follows:

(c) A municipality shall prepare an annexation plan that specifically identifies annexations that may occur beginning on the third anniversary of the date the annexation plan is adopted. The municipality may amend the plan to specifically identify annexations that may occur beginning on the third anniversary of the date the plan is amended.
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(h) This section [43.052] does not apply to an area proposed for annexation if: (1) the area contains fewer than 100 separate tracts of land on which one or more residential dwellings are located on each tract....
(i) A municipality may not circumvent the requirements of this section by proposing to separately annex two or more areas described by Subsection (h)(1) if no reason exists under generally accepted municipal planning principles and practices for separately annexing the areas. If a municipality proposes to separately annex areas in violation of this section, a person residing or owning land in the area may petition the municipality to include the area in the municipality’s annexation plan. If the municipality fails to take action on the petition, the petitioner may request arbitration of the dispute. The petitioner must request the appointment of an arbitrator in writing to the municipality. Sections 43.0564(b), (c), and (e) apply to the appointment of an arbitrator and the conduct of an arbitration proceeding under this subsection.

B. The Controversy

The estate of W.W. Caruth (the Estate) owns 405 acres of land (the Caruth property) within a part of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City, a home-rule city. In August 2004, the Estate applied to the City for initial approval of a residential development plan for the Caruth property. After the Estate filed its application, the City initiated annexation procedures pursuant to section 43.052(h)(i) in regard to two areas: one included the Caruth property and another included land not contiguous to the Caruth property. The City sent notices of annexation to affected persons 2 pursuant to subchapter 43C-1 procedures for areas exempted from three-year annexation plans. The Estate objected to the City’s attempt to annex using subchapter 43C-1 procedures and petitioned the City to include the Caruth property in the City’s three-year annexation plan. The Rockwall City Council adopted a resolution rejecting the Estate’s request. The Estate then asserted that the City was circumventing section 43.052(c)’s requirement that annexations be carried out pursuant to a three-year plan and requested arbitration pursuant to section 43.052(i). The City responded by advising the Estate that the proposed annexations were exempt from inclusion in a three-year plan [625]*625and the Estate’s “request for arbitration [was] not appropriate.”

The Estate filed suit in district court seeking an order compelling arbitration pursuant to section 43.052(i) and a temporary restraining order and temporary injunction preventing the City from proceeding with annexation pending completion of arbitration, including related appeals, if any. The City responded, in part, by filing a plea to the jurisdiction asserting that the Estate did not have standing because the dispute concerned annexation procedures, the suit was a collateral attack on the annexation ordinances and proceedings and the only way to challenge alleged annexation procedural irregularities was through quo warranto proceedings. In support of its plea to the jurisdiction, the City argued, in part, that section 43.052(i) authorized the Estate to request arbitration if the City did not take action on the Estate’s petition to be included in a three-year plan but that the City took action on the petition by denying it. The trial court denied the Estate’s applications, granted the City’s plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed the action.

The Estate appealed. The court of appeals agreed with the Estate’s interpretation of section 43.052(i):

[W]e read the plain language of the statute to provide that, if the City fails to take action on the petition to include the area in the [three-year] annexation plan, the landowner may request arbitration of the dispute.

153 S.W.3d 709, 713-14 (emphasis added).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
246 S.W.3d 621, 51 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 349, 2008 Tex. LEXIS 71, 2008 WL 204500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-rockwall-v-hughes-tex-2008.