May v. City of McKinney

• Decision Date: 16 March 1972
• Docket Number: No. 17825,17825
• Citation: 479 S.W.2d 114
• Parties: Perry MAY et al., Appellants, v. The CITY OF McKINNEY, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 114

479 S.W.2d 114

Perry MAY et al., Appellants, v. The CITY OF McKINNEY, Appellee.

No. 17825.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas,

Dallas.

March 16, 1972.

Rehearing Denied April 6, 1972.

Luther Truett, McKinney, for appellants.

William M. Boyd, Boyd, Veigel & Gay, McKinney, for appellee.

CLAUDE WILLIAMS, Chief Justice.

The principal question presented by this appeal is the validity Vel non of three annexation ordinances enacted by the City Council of the City of McKinney, Collin County, Texas, a home rule city having a population of more than 5,000 inhabitants but less than 25,000 inhabitants.

Perry May, and forty-six other plaintiffs, alleged to be tax-paying property owners of Collin County, Texas, brought this action against the City of McKinney alleging that the city had enacted three separate annexation ordinances in an attempt to annex long meandering strips slivers or fingers of land 10 feet in width and ranging from one mile to three miles in length, and running out in all directions from the City of McKinney 'like a long-legged spider or octopus'; that each of said ordinances was void on its face; that judgment should be rendered declaring such ordinances void and invalid and that the City of McKinney be perpetually enjoined from exercising or claiming any municipal authority or annexation jurisdiction over any part of the territory attempted to be annexed by the ordinances in question.

The case was submitted to the court, without the intervention of a jury, and following the introduction of evidence and stipulations of counsel, the court rendered judgment denying the relief sought by plaintiffs.

Appellants complain of the action of the trial court in twenty points of error divided into three general categories:

1. The error of the court in refusing to hold the ordinances void because the property sought to be annexed was not adjacent and contiguous to the City of McKinney and also not within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of McKinney (points I, II, III, V, VI, VII, IX, X, XI, XV, XVI, XVIII, XIX, and XX);

2. The error of the court in refusing to hold the ordinances void because of lack of statutory notice (points IV, XIV and XVII);

3. The error of the court in making certain findings of fact (points VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII).

Under their primary group of points appellants argue that while the City of McKinney, a home rule city, admittedly has the right to annex territory, it is bound by the provisions of Article 970a, sec. 3, subd. A(2) and sec. 7A, Vernon's Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann., which provide that a city may annex territory only within the confines of its extraterritorial jurisdiction and that the extraterritorial jurisdiction of McKinney (being a city having a population of 5,000 but less than 25,000 inhabitants) shall consist of the contiguous unincorporated area, not a part of any other city, within one mile of the corporate limits of such city. Appellants slso argue that such power to annex is governed by Article 1175, V.A.C.S., which, in section 2 thereof limits the power to provide for the extension of boundary limits and the annexation of additional territory to that lying adjacent to such city. Appellants contend that the effect of the three annexation ordinances violates both the adjacency provision and extraterritorial limitations and the ordinances are therefore void.

The facts relating to the three annexation ordinances are undisputed. Ordinance No. 745 was passed and approved by the City Council of the City of McKinney on March 9, 1970 and annexes twelve separate strips of land, each strip being 10 feet wide at the point of contact with the existing limits of the city and extending outward for a distance of 5,280 feet, or one mile. Each of these strips constitutes a part of the right of way of public roads or highways. Ordinance No. 748 was passed and approved May 4, 1970 and annexes twenty-two tracts or strips of land, each being 10 feet wide and 5,280 feet long. Part of these tracts attach to the ends of the original twelve strips annexed by Ordinance No. 745, while others go back and contact the city limits at 10-foot wide strips. Each of these strips is on the right of way on roads or highways. Ordinance No. 759 was passed and approved October 19, 1970 and annexed sixteen tracts of land, each being 10 feet wide and 5,280 feet in length. Some of these tracts attach at the ends of the prior annexed strips while others go back to the original city limits for points of contact. Each of these strips is within the right of way of roads and highways. No private property was annexed by any of the ordinances. The following is a copy of a map of the City of McKinney and the territory which was annexed by the three named ordinances, such map being introduced into evidence before the trial court as Plaintiffs' Exhibit E:

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

While the map graphically illustrates the rather unique and unusual plan of annexation exercised by the City of McKinney by extending mile-long finger-like strips in every direction around the limits of the municipality, yet we find no legal basis for the contention advanced by appellants that the various ordinances are obviously void.

The right of the City of McKinney, a home rule city, to annex any territory is derived from Article 11, section 5 of the Constitution of Texas which restrains the exercise of legislative powers only to the extent that same shall not be inconsistent with the Constitution or general laws enacted by the legislature. Article 1175, sec. 2, V .A.C.S., as well as the charter of the City of McKinney, grants to such city the legislative power to annex territory 'lying adjacent to said city' and Article 970a, sec. 7, subd, A, V.A.C.S., grants to a home rule city the power to annex territory only within the confines of its extraterritorial jurisdiction which, as applied to McKinney, is defined in section 3, subd. A(2), Article 970a, V.A.C.S ., as being an area within one mile of the corporate limits of said city. Thus it would appear to be without question that the only limitations placed upon the City of McKinney to annex territory within its extraterritorial jurisdiction of one mile would be that such annexed territory is 'adjacent thereto' and not a part of any other municipality. State ex rel. Pan American Production Co. v. Texas City, 157 Tex. 450, 303 S.W.2d 780 (1957); City of Irving v. Callaway, 363 S.W.2d 832, 835 (Tex.Civ.App., Dallas 1962, writ ref'd n.r.e.), and cases therein cited. Appellants do not contend that the second restriction, having to do with the annexation of territory of other cities, had any application here. This leaves the only question as to whether the statutory limitation of 'contiguity' has been violated by the City of McKinney by the various ordinances under attack.

Appellants lay great stress upon the plan of annexation exercised by McKinney of taking in mile-long 10 feet wide strips described by appellants as 'octopus or finger-like' around the city limits of the City of McKinney as being contrary to the intent of the legislature relating to 'adjacency'. While such annexation plan may appear to be unusual yet we find no basis in law for sustaining appellants' contention. In the case of the City of Wichita Falls v. Bowen, 143 Tex. 45, 182 S.W.2d 695 (1944), our Supreme Court considered an attack upon a similar ordinance passed by the City of Wichita Falls wherein such city annexed two areas containing United States Air Force bases and such territories were joined to the city by a stem, 100 to 120 feet wide at the line of the city limits and extending for some three or four miles along a public highway before the balance of the annexed territory spreads out and comprises several hundred acres of land. The Supreme Court, in upholding such annexation, said:

'Since the City enacted it (the annexation ordinance) under constitutional, statutory, and charter authority, it cannot be void. Unless it is void, it can be questioned only by a direct suit in the nature of a quo warranto proceeding, or in a proceeding to which the State is a party. 30 Tex.Jur. p. 37, § 35; Tod v. City of Houston, Tex.Com.App., 276 S.W. 419, and authorities there cited; Lefler v. City of Dallas, Tex.Civ.App., 177 S.W.2d 231. It is true, as shown by the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals, that the land here annexed is only joined to the City by a narrow neck, but that fact, standing alone, could not render this ordinance void. Neither the statute, Article 1175, supra, nor the charter of the City, defines or provides any length, width, shape, or amount of area of land that the City may annex. It must follow, therefore, that any attack on this annexation ordinance, on account of the shape of the area...