Save Our Springs Alliance, Inc. v. City of Dripping Springs

304 S.W.3d 871, 2010 WL 521027
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 12, 2010
Docket03-04-00683-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by106 cases

This text of 304 S.W.3d 871 (Save Our Springs Alliance, Inc. v. City of Dripping Springs) 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
Save Our Springs Alliance, Inc. v. City of Dripping Springs, 304 S.W.3d 871, 2010 WL 521027 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

G. ALAN WALDROP, Justice.

We withdraw the opinion and judgment issued July 3, 2009, and substitute the following opinion and judgment in then-place. We deny appellant’s motion for rehearing.

The City of Dripping Springs entered into agreements with two landowners in the City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, Cypress-Hays, L.P. and Mak Foster Ranch, L.P. The agreements contemplated the landowners’ development of portions of their property for residential, commercial, and recreational use. The agreements were approved by the city council in public meetings during April 2001. Appellant Save Our Springs Alliance, Inc. (“SOS Alliance”) filed suit alleging that the agreements would result in added pollution to the environmentally sensitive Edwards Aquifer. In its petition, SOS Alliance sought a declaration that the agreements violated the Texas Constitution, and alleged that the public notices regarding the [876]*876city council’s approval of the agreements did not sufficiently communicate the subject matter of the meetings as required by the Texas Open Meetings Act. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on SOS Alliance’s Open Meetings Act claim, granted the defendants’ pleas to the jurisdiction on the remaining claims based on SOS Alliance’s lack of standing, and awarded the defendants attorneys’ fees. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

Factual and Procedural Background

After notice and a public hearing on April 10, 2001, the City of Dripping Springs entered into a “Development Agreement” with Cypress-Hays, L.P. This agreement authorized development on approximately 2,724 acres of land owned by Cypress-Hays in the City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction in Hays County. After notice and a public hearing on April 19, 2001, the City entered into a similar “Development Agreement” with Mak Foster Ranch, L.P. This agreement authorized development on approximately 1,611 acres of land owned by Mak Foster in the City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction in Hays County. Both Development Agreements contemplated development of the land as master-planned, mixed-use communities with commercial and residential uses, as well as park and recreational facilities. Under the Agreements, Cypress-Hays and Mak Foster could develop the land according to agreed-upon standards, in exchange for the City’s pledge that the standards would remain consistent for a period of 15 years (with up to two 5-year extensions).1

SOS Alliance is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to protecting the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer, which is located almost entirely in Hays and Travis Counties. According to SOS Alliance, water from the aquifer’s “contributing zone.” in which the City of Dripping Springs is located, flows eastward on creeks into the “recharge zone,” where the water moves underground through caves, sinkholes, and other openings to fill or “recharge” the aquifer. Most of the water from this segment of the aquifer emerges at Barton Springs in Austin, Texas, which is on the northeast corner of the two zones.

In November 2002, SOS Alliance filed suit against the City of Dripping Springs and Todd Purcell in his official capacity as mayor of the City of Dripping Springs (collectively, the “City”), challenging the municipality’s authority to enter into the Development Agreements and the sufficiency of the information in the public notices for the meetings at which the Agreements were considered and approved.2 Four months later, SOS Alliance [877]*877added Cypress-Hays and appellee Mak Foster as defendants in the lawsuit.

Although some authority existed for cities to enter into certain types of development agreements for land in their extraterritorial jurisdiction, see Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. § 42.044 (West 2008), the legislature expanded cities’ authority to enter into such agreements during the 2003 legislative session. See Act of May 24, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 522, § 1, 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws Í788, 1788-89 (codified at Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. §§ 212.171-.174 (West 2008)). The 2003 legislation included a provision that resulted in the retroactive validation of the Development Agreements. See Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. § 212.172(h).

After this legislation was enacted, on May 11, 2004, SOS Alliance filed its second amended petition — the live pleading in this case when judgment was entered — seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees. In its petition, SOS Alliance alleged that the Development Agreements violate the Texas Constitution by impinging on the right of local self-government, impairing the preservation of a republican form of government, and contracting away legislative powers. SOS Alliance further alleged that the City violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by issuing public notices that insufficiently stated the subject of the Development Agreements.

The parties filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment, and the defendants also filed pleas to the jurisdiction challenging SOS Alliance’s standing to pursue its claims. On July 26, 2004, the district court granted the defendants’ pleas to the jurisdiction as to all of SOS Alliance’s claims except the alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act and, after a hearing, granted summary judgment in favor of appellees as to the Open Meetings Act claim. The parties and the court agreed to try the remaining issue of attorneys’ fees on written submission, and the court subsequently granted the defendants’ requested fees. The district court entered a final judgment on November 29, 2004, incorporating all of its prior orders. SOS Alliance appeals.3

Standing

In its first and second points on appeal, SOS Alliance asserts that the district court’s granting of appellees’ pleas to the jurisdiction as to SOS Alliance’s claims that do not relate to the Open Meetings Act was in error. A plea to the jurisdiction challenges the trial court’s authority to determine the subject matter of a specific cause of action. See Texas Dep’t of Parks & Wildlife v. Miranda, 133 S.W.3d 217, 225-26 (Tex.2004). We review de novo whether a court has subject-matter jurisdiction and whether the plaintiff has alleged facts that affirmatively demonstrate subject-matter jurisdiction. Id. at 226. In deciding a plea to the jurisdiction, we are not to consider the merits of the plaintiffs claims beyond the extent necessary to resolve the jurisdiction issue, but consider the plaintiffs pleadings, construed in the plaintiffs favor, and evidence pertinent to the jurisdictional inquiry. Id. at 227-28; County of Cameron v. Brown, 80 S.W.3d 549, 555 (Tex.2002). SOS Alliance contends that its pleadings and juris[878]*878dictional evidence are sufficient to establish jurisdiction.

Subject-matter jurisdiction is essential to the authority of a court to decide a case, and standing is a component of subject-matter jurisdiction. See Texas Ass’n of Bus. v. Texas Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 443-45 (Tex.1993). A plaintiff must have standing for the court to have subject-matter jurisdiction to decide the merits of the plaintiffs claims. See id.; Farmers Tex. County Mut. Ins. Co. v. Romo,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
304 S.W.3d 871, 2010 WL 521027, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/save-our-springs-alliance-inc-v-city-of-dripping-springs-texapp-2010.