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Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 251.001

RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN

Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case City of Austin v. Harry M. Whittington (2012)

Most recently applied in City of Blue Mound, Texas v. Southwest Water Company and Monarch Utilities I, LP (November 2014)

Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff

How often courts cite this section

20002010201420
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) When the governing body of a municipality considers it necessary, the municipality may exercise the right of eminent domain for a public use to acquire public or private property, whether located inside or outside the municipality, for any of the following uses:

(1) the providing, enlarging, or improving of a municipally owned city hall; police station; jail or other law enforcement detention facility; fire station; library; school or other educational facility; academy; auditorium; hospital; sanatorium; market house; slaughterhouse; warehouse; elevator; railroad terminal; airport; ferry; ferry landing; pier; wharf; dock or other shipping facility; loading or unloading facility; alley, street, or other roadway; park, playground, or other recreational facility; square; water works system, including reservoirs, other water supply sources, watersheds, and water storage, drainage, treatment, distribution, transmission, and emptying facilities; sewage system including sewage collection, drainage, treatment, disposal, and emptying facilities; electric or gas power system; cemetery; and crematory;

(2) the determining of riparian rights relative to the municipal water works;

(3) the straightening or improving of the channel of any stream, branch, or drain;

(4) the straightening, widening, or extending of any alley, street, or other roadway; and

(5) any other municipal public use the governing body considers advisable.

(b) A municipality condemning land under this section may take a fee simple title to the property if the governing body expresses the intention to do so.

Official source: Texas Constitution and Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Texas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.