Country Community Timberlake Village, L.P. v. HMW Special Utility District of Harris

438 S.W.3d 661, 2014 WL 1478009, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 4083
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 15, 2014
DocketNo. 01-12-00825-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 438 S.W.3d 661 (Country Community Timberlake Village, L.P. v. HMW Special Utility District of Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Country Community Timberlake Village, L.P. v. HMW Special Utility District of Harris, 438 S.W.3d 661, 2014 WL 1478009, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 4083 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

REBECA HUDDLE, Justice.

This appeal concerns the acquisition of a piece of real property outside a gated subdivision by a special utility district for use as a utility site and the condemnation of a deed restriction affecting that property. At trial, a jury awarded various individual homeowners, including the developer, in the adjacent subdivision damages for the reduction in value each suffered due to the condemnation. The homeowners and the developer appeal, and the utility district cross-appeals. We hold that the homeowners and the developer lack standing and therefore vacate the judgment of the trial court and dismiss the case.

Background

This appeal concerns Timberlake Village, a gated subdivision in northwest Harris County, Texas, developed by Country Community Timberlake Village, L.P. (“Country Community”). Country Community created the subdivision in May 2002 by subdividing a 143.5-acre tract of land. Timberlake Village consists of eighty-five residential lots to the north of the entry gate, where each of the individual Appellants resides, and fourteen lots outside the entry gate along Loblolly Lane, the entry road to Timberlake Village, the owners of which did not participate in the lawsuit. The subdivision is subject to a variety of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, which were set forth in a declaration recorded by Country Community (the “Subdivision Declaration”). To help administer the covenants, conditions, and restrictions, Country Community created a homeowners association, Timberlake Village Homeowners Association, Inc. (“TVHA”).

In addition to the 143.5-acre tract that became Timberlake Village, Country Community also owned a 3.9332-acre tract on Loblolly Lane. This smaller tract (the “Small Tract”) was not subdivided or made part of Timberlake Village, although Country Community imposed certain covenants, conditions, and restrictions on the Small Tract (the “Small Tract Declaration”) in October 2002.

[665]*665The Small Tract Declaration includes the following recitals, which inform much of the parties’ argument in this appeal:

WHEREAS, Declarant [Country Community] desires to provide and adopt a set of conditions, covenants, and restrictions designed to govern, control, and preserve the value of the Property and to preserve the value of property located within Timberlake Village; for the development, improvement, sale, use, and enjoyment of the Property and property located within Timberlake Village; and
WHEREAS, Declarant desires to subject the Property to the conditions, covenants, and restrictions hereinafter set forth, for the benefit of the owners of the Property and for the benefit of owners of property located within Timber-lake Village; and
NOW, THEREFORE, Declarant hereby declares that the Property shall be developed, improved, sold, used, and enjoyed in accordance with, and subject to the following conditions, covenants, and restrictions herein set forth, all of which are hereby adopted for, and placed upon said Property and shall run with the Property and be binding on all parties, now and at anytime [sic] hereinafter, having or claiming any right, title, or interest in the Property or any part thereof, their heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns, regardless of the source of, or the manner in which any such right, title, or interest is or may be acquired, and shall inure to the benefit of each Owner of any part of the Property.

(emphasis added). The Small Tract Declaration defines “Property” to mean the 3.9832-acre tract, which it describes by metes and bounds. It defines “Owner” as “an owner of any portion of the Property.” It also defines “Timberlake Village” as “TimberLake [sic] Village Subdivision located in Harris County, Texas, and described by Declaration of Covenants[,] Conditions, and Restrictions for Timber-Lake Village filed of record at Clerk’s File No. V896592, Real Property Records, Harris County, Texas.”

The Small Tract Declaration restricts use of the 3.9332-acre tract to residential purposes. Article III, Section I, captioned “Deed Restriction Enforcement,” provides:

(1) Remedies:
Every Owner shall comply with all provisions of this Declaration, and any amendments or supplements to any of the foregoing. Failure to comply shall be grounds for an action to recover sums due, for damages or injunctive relief, or for any other remedy available at law or in equity.
(2) Enforcement by Owners:
Each Owner is empowered to enforce this Declaration.

The Small Tract Declaration also provides that, if the smaller tract was subdivided, any subdivided portions of the Small Tract would become subject to additional covenants, conditions, and restrictions, such as subjecting any proposed construction on the subdivided portions to review by the subdivision’s Architectural Review Committee. Even after subdivision of the Small Tract, however, only owners of the Small Tract or lots subdivided from it would have power to enforce these additional covenants, conditions, and restrictions.

HMW Special Utility District of Harris and Montgomery Counties, a Texas water district, provides retail water service to customers in Harris and Montgomery Counties, including residents of Timber-lake Village and adjacent subdivisions.

In 2008, HMW purchased 0.2105 acres of the Small Tract from Donald and Nancy Tucker, who owned the Small Tract at the [666]*666time. HMW intended to use this 0.2105-acre tract as a utility site and has since constructed a small water plant on the site. Because this use would have violated the residential-use restriction in the Small Tract Declaration, HMW filed a petition to condemn that restriction as it applied to the 0.2105 acres that HMW had purchased. As defendant, HMW named TVHA.

The trial court appointed special commissioners pursuant to Section 21.014 of the Texas Property Code. The special commissioners held a hearing to determine the value of the condemned deed restriction, at which TVHA did not appear, and awarded TVHA $4,600 as compensation. See Tex. Prop.Code Ann. § 21.015 (West Supp. 2013); id. § 21.016 (West Supp.2013). TVHA appealed that decision to the trial court, pursuant to Section 21.018 of the Property Code. TVHA also sought the joinder of all of the property owners in the subdivision, which the trial court ordered. The trial court eventually dismissed the counterclaims of eighty of the defendants for want of prosecution, but did not dismiss the declaratory judgment claims against those defendants. The remaining defendants were Country Community (the developer), TVHA (which did not own any property in Timberlake Village), and 30 homeowners; between them, Country Community and the homeowners owned a total of 33 tracts in Timberlake Village. The homeowners and Country Community own properties located at varying distances of approximately 1,800 feet to one mile from the utility site.

By the time of trial, the parties had amended their pleadings multiple times.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
438 S.W.3d 661, 2014 WL 1478009, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 4083, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/country-community-timberlake-village-lp-v-hmw-special-utility-district-texapp-2014.