The Supreme Court of Texas has removed one of the last hurdles for the city of Terrell to start annexing land, even if people don't want to sell.
A new law prevents cities from making land-grabs through annexation but the Texas Supreme Court has ruled the city of Terrell apparently beat the clock and can annex land it went after before the new law was in place.
There are four major highways that lead in and out of Terrell. The city wanted to annex 1000-foot wide strips along all four, "for the purpose of making Terrell better."
The land owners had other ideas and filed suit. The Supreme Court has dismissed one complaint and is expected to do the same to an identical suit shortly.
Attorney Robert Brown, who helps represent Terrell, says the laws have changed to prevent such actions, but before the change there was a grandfathering clause.
"It said before the effective date of that law cities could, in essence, identify certain areas they intended to annex under the old law - and if they passed resolutions directing the city manager to prepare a service plan those areas could be carved out" said Brown.
Had the city waited, that would not have been allowed.
