Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board v. City of Irving

854 S.W.2d 161, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 1712, 1993 WL 95691
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 31, 1993
Docket05-92-00559-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 854 S.W.2d 161 (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board v. City of Irving) 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
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board v. City of Irving, 854 S.W.2d 161, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 1712, 1993 WL 95691 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

BAKER, Justice.

The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board, a joint board of Dallas and Fort Worth, sued Irving, Euless, and Grapevine for requiring the Airport Board to follow the cities’ local zoning ordinances. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Parcel Service Company intervened. Irving, Euless, and Grapevine joined Dallas and Fort Worth as third-party defendants. All parties moved for summary judgment. The plaintiffs and third-party defendants moved the trial court to find that the local ordinances of Irving, Grapevine, and Eu-less are preempted by federal and state law and that the Airport Board has the power of eminent domain over the defendant cities. The defendants, Irving, Grapevine, and Euless, moved the trial court to find that their local ordinances are not preempted and that the Airport Board has no power of eminent domain over them. The trial court granted summary judgment for Irving, Euless, and Grapevine. In seven points of error, the Airport Board, American, Delta, UPS, Dallas, and Fort Worth *164 contend the trial court erred in granting appellees’ summary judgment in part and in denying Plaintiffs, Intervenors’, and Third-Party Defendants’ Joint Motion for Summary Judgment in part. The trial court severed the issues that are before us in this appeal. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

A. Facts

In 1965, Dallas and Fort Worth entered into a Contract and Agreement to construct an international airport to serve the metropolitan area of Dallas/Fort Worth. The Agreement contemplated the creation of a regional airport authority, a special purpose governmental entity separate from each of the cities, that would govern and operate the new airport. In 1966, the Texas Legislature amended the Texas Constitution to provide a mechanism for the creation of regional airport authorities. Following this amendment, the Texas Legislature enacted the North Central Texas Airport Authority. Dallas and Tarrant Counties held a referendum to decide whether to create the new regional airport authority. Dallas County voters rejected the referendum.

Dallas and Fort Worth agreed to construct and operate the proposed airport jointly as a municipal airport. The cities created the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board. The Board has no separate governmental authority. Irving, Eu-less, and Grapevine agreed to the airport’s location within their respective jurisdictions and helped in the planning and construction of the airport. None of the host cities has ever executed any agreement, ordinance, or resolution relinquishing control over any part of their cities to the Airport Board.

In 1971, the Airport Board issued its original Master Plan for the new airport. The Master Plan set up the land uses for the airport through the year 2001. The Airport Board submitted the plan to Irving. The city approved the plan on March 30, 1972. Each of the host cities permitted the airport to expand and construct according to the Master Plan. Airline service began at the airport in January 1974.

In 1988, the Airport Board announced its $3.5 billion redevelopment plan. The improvements the Board proposed include the construction of two new runways, additional taxiways, aircraft holding áreas, the extension of existing runways, and the construction of other airport facilities. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assigned 100 million dollars to the initial phase of the extension plan. On April 7, 1992, the FAA issued a Record of Decision formally approving and authorizing funding for the construction of the new runway on the east side of the airport.

In 1989 and 1990, Irving, Euless, and Grapevine amended their comprehensive zoning ordinances. These amendments are to insure that all structures and land uses that might result in large environmental impacts, including but not limited to airports, are consistent with each city’s comprehensive zoning plan. Each of these ordinances requires the Airport Board to submit a site plan, along with information about the environmental impacts of the plan, to get the required special or governmental use permits. The Airport Board promptly sued the host cities to avoid following the ordinances.

D/FW Airport is now the primary airport of the North Texas region. In passengers accommodated, it is also the second busiest airport in the nation.

B. Procedural History

In the trial court, the Airport Board, American, Delta, UPS, Dallas, and Fort Worth filed a joint motion for summary judgment asserting:

1. The zoning ordinances are preempted by and are in violation of the Texas Municipal Airports Act insofar as they relate to the airport;
2. The zoning ordinances are preempted by and are in violation of federal law insofar as they relate to the airport;
3. Neither the Airport Board nor its constituent cities is impermissibly annexing any property in Irving, Euless, or Grapevine;
*165 4. The Airport Board through its constituent cities is authorized to exercise eminent domain power to acquire roads and streets within Irving, Euless, and Grapevine; and
5. The Municipal Airports Act is constitutional.

Irving, Euless, and Grapevine also moved for summary judgment. The cities asserted home rule sovereignty and that the Airport Board is not a separate governing body. They also asserted that the Municipal Airports Act is unconstitutional.

The trial court granted appellants’ motions for summary judgment only on ground three above. The trial court granted the host cities’ motions except that it denied summary judgment on the annexation of property. The trial court did not reach the question of constitutionality. The Airport Board, American, Delta, UPS, Dallas, and Fort Worth bring seven points of error on appeal contending both federal and state law preempt the local ordinances and complaining the Airport Board has the right of eminent domain over the host cities.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

In their first and second points of error, appellants state the trial court erred in granting appellees’ motion for summary judgment and not granting appellants’. These points are sufficient to permit appellants to raise every available legal attack on the summary judgment the trial court rendered. See Malooly Bros., Inc. v. Napier, 461 S.W.2d 119, 121 (Tex.1970). “Where both parties file motions for summary judgment, and one is granted and one is denied, the denial may be considered by the reviewing court if the appealing party complains of both the granting of the opponent’s motion and the denial of its own motion.” Utica Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Fidelity & Cos. Co., 812 S.W.2d 656, 658 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1991, writ denied). This Court will consider all evidence accompanying the motions in determining whether the trial court should have granted either side’s motions. Vest v. Gulf Ins. Co., 809 S.W.2d 531, 533 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1991, writ denied).

A. Standard of Review

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Bluebook (online)
854 S.W.2d 161, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 1712, 1993 WL 95691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallasfort-worth-international-airport-board-v-city-of-irving-texapp-1993.