21
Legal Opinion
I
n a major court victory for the home
building industry, the Fort Worth Court
of Appeals recently issued an opinion
prohibiting cities from extending building
codes to their extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Numerous Texas municipalities, typically
smaller towns without the statutory power
to annex land involuntarily, have passed
ordinances in recent years requiring home
builders to obtain building permits and pay
permit fees in order to build homes outside
of corporate limits. The primary reason
for these ordinances is to generate revenue
for the city without incurring the costs for
providing municipal services.
TAB and local associations have taken steps
to stop the proliferation of these ordinances.
For example, TAB and the Greater San
Antonio Builders Association are named
plaintiffs in a lawsuit versus the City of
Helotes near San Antonio requesting that
the city’s extension of the building code to
its ETJ be declared void.
In addition, TAB and the Dallas BA
contributed funds to defend a lawsuit
brought by Lakewood Village in Denton
County to force a builder in the ETJ to obtain
building permits and pay fees. In 2014, a
Denton County district judge granted the
Town’s request for a temporary injunction
following a two day hearing.
In
Bizios vs. Town of Lakewood Village,
the Court of Appeals reversed the district
court on the grounds that the Town lacked
statutory authority to extend its building
code to the ETJ. The Court noted that
the Town had only 620 residents and the
home builder had to pay a building permit
fee of almost $15,000.00 even though the
Town provides absolutely no services to
the property. In addition, the Town could
never annex the property because of its
population limitation and could not provide
water or sewer service. The court also noted
that the permit issue was addressed by the
applicability of the International Residential
Code by Denton County. Lakewood Village
has not indicated whether it will appeal the
decision to the Texas Supreme Court.
Art Anderson is a shareholder with
Winstead PC in Dallas. He represents
individual home builders such as Harry Bizios,
as well as national companies, in land use
matters. Art is a voting member of TAB’s
Legal Affairs Committee.
Home Builders Win Major Court Victory
Prohibiting Building Permits in the ETJ
By Art Anderson
