Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas House Bill HB3709 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Coleman H.B. No. 3709
2	2
3	3
4	4	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
5	5	AN ACT
6	6	Relating to certain charitable corporations granted eminent domain
7	7	power by Section 6(b), Chapter 178 (S.B. 289), Acts of the 56th
8	8	Legislature, Regular Session, 1959 (Article 3183b-1, Vernon's
9	9	Texas Civil Statutes), repealing the power of eminent domain and
10	10	condemnation of residential property adjacent or contiguous to such
11	11	medical center, for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and
12	12	operating health care, educational and support entities as a part
13	13	of the medical center or related facilities; and amending Article
14	14	3183b-1 to provide for legal remedies and measures to rectify past
15	15	condemnation practices within residential neighborhoods.
16	16	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
17	17	SECTION 1. Title 51, Art. 3183b-1, Section 2, Texas Revised
18	18	Civil Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
19	19	"Sec. 2.
20	20	(a) EMINENT DOMAIN POWER. Any charitable corporation as
21	21	defined in Section 1 of this Act shall have the power of eminent
22	22	domain and condemnation for the purpose of acquiring lands adjacent
23	23	or contiguous (whether or not separated by public thoroughfares) to
24	24	such medical center upon which are to be constructed, maintained,
25	25	and operated as a part of the medical center, facilities dedicated
26	26	to medical care, teaching, and research for the public welfare,
27	27	including ancillary or service activities generally and
28	28	customarily recognized as essential to such facilities in a medical
29	29	center.
30	30	(b) RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY LIMITATIONS.
31	31	(1) Definitions.
32	32	(A) "Deed restricted residential property" shall
33	33	mean property governed by existing deed restrictions which restrict
34	34	the property to residential use within a subdivision, or within a
35	35	section of a subdivision. Residential use shall include
36	36	townhouses, condominiums, and multifamily residential housing
37	37	included as a section or component of a residential subdivision.
38	38	(B) "Single family residential property" shall
39	39	have the meaning defined by the generally-applicable municipal
40	40	land-use ordinance, and which is located in a predominately
41	41	single-family residential subdivision or established residential
42	42	area, without regard to whether deed restrictions are in force.
43	43	"Single family residential property" shall include townhouses,
44	44	condominiums, and multifamily residential housing generally
45	45	considered to be part of the predominately single-family
46	46	residential subdivision or the established residential area. A
47	47	single family residential property owners association in a non-deed
48	48	restricted area may be formed pursuant to the procedures prescribed
49	49	in Article, which shall entitle it to exercise all of the rights of
50	50	a property owners' association under the Property Code
51	51	notwithstanding the lack of deed restrictions. A management
52	52	district more than fifty (50) percent of whose voters are bona fide
53	53	resident landowners may also qualify as a property owners
54	54	association. In any election required or permitted by the Property
55	55	Code, legal or beneficial owners of more than one lot in a property
56	56	owners association election shall have the right to cast no more
57	57	than one vote.
58	58	(C) "Residential area" shall mean a deed
59	59	restricted residential property subdivision, or a single family
60	60	residential property area, or a combination of such areas.
61	61	(D) "Blockbusting activity" shall mean avoidable
62	62	actions or omissions to act by a Medical Center Condemnation Entity
63	63	or its members, including without limitation actions having the
64	64	effect of increasing traffic, noise or light intrusion, or similar
65	65	actions or omissions by investors, including actions involving
66	66	demolition of or allowing improved property to become blighted,
67	67	whether in anticipation of sale to a Medical Center Condemnation
68	68	Entity or its members or otherwise, and which are intended, or which
69	69	will foreseeably cause, a substantial reduction of residential-use
70	70	property values in a residential area.
71	71	(E) "Medical Center Condemning Entity" shall
72	72	mean any entity having the power of eminent domain under Section 1,
73	73	or any entity which has the authority to purchase, lease, or
74	74	otherwise use or occupy, property acquired by a Medical Center
75	75	Condemnation Entity.
76	76	(F) "Future use" shall mean property acquired in
77	77	a residential area through private contract or by formal
78	78	condemnation proceedings by a Medical Center Condemnation Entity or
79	79	its members, for which the Medical Center Condemnation Entity
80	80	member has no plan for specific, immediate use. If substantial
81	81	construction of permanent medical facilities designed to deliver
82	82	health care for the use and benefit of the public, excluding surface
83	83	parking not related to the medical facilities, has not commenced on
84	84	such property within two years of its acquisition, the property
85	85	shall be deemed to be property acquired for future use.
86	86	(G) "Condemnation" shall mean a taking through
87	87	formal court proceedings, or any acquisition by a Medical Center
88	88	Condemning Entity which could have, at the time of the acquisition,
89	89	initiated court proceedings for condemnation. It shall be
90	90	irrelevant whether the Medical Center Condemning Entity shall have
91	91	overtly threatened condemnation or not.
92	92	(2) NO CONDEMNATION OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. The
93	93	power of eminent domain and condemnation shall not apply to any
94	94	residential area, nor may a corporation defined in Section 1 of this
95	95	Act otherwise acquire residential area property, directly or
96	96	through an agent or trustee, for future use, nor may it acquire
97	97	residential property whose value has been materially diminished by
98	98	blockbusting activity. Nothing herein shall limit any rights that
99	99	may be expressly granted in current residential deed restrictions
100	100	that authorize express waiver, amendment, or variances with respect
101	101	to the restrictions, or as may be determined by the "Property
102	102	owners' association" as defined in Section 202.001 of the Property
103	103	Code pursuant to applicable provisions of the Property Code or to a
104	104	residential property owners association formed in a non-deed
105	105	restricted area. A Medical Center Condemnation Entity may not
106	106	challenge the validity of the deed restrictions in a condemnation
107	107	proceeding, or in contemplation of condemnation.
108	108	(3) BLOCKBUSTING PROHIBITED. No Medical Center
109	109	Condemnation Entity or its members may purchase property, by
110	110	private contract or otherwise, in a residential area whose property
111	111	values have been substantially diminished by blockbusting
112	112	activity. Residential area property held for future use shall,
113	113	within a reasonable time not to exceed one year, be sold by the
114	114	Medical Center Condemnation Entity to a purchaser who shall
115	115	covenant that the property will be restored to its former status as
116	116	a bona fide single family residential property, or, if applicable,
117	117	reintegrated into its original deed restricted residential
118	118	property subdivision.
119	119	(4) REMEDIATION REQUIRED IN CERTAIN CASES. Parking
120	120	facilities constructed on land owned by a Medical Center Condemning
121	121	Entity that was acquired after January 1, 2004 within a residential
122	122	area, or which is located directly adjacent to a residential area,
123	123	shall be required to remediate the effects of such acquisition.
124	124	Such remediation shall include:
125	125	(A) the installation of louvers, screens,
126	126	panels, or other permanent fixtures that reduce the emission of
127	127	light from parking garages to the same level of light emission from
128	128	the windows of office or hospital facilities of the Medical Center
129	129	Condemnation Entity or its members that were constructed after
130	130	January 1, 2004;
131	131	(B) landscaping with large evergreen trees and
132	132	evergreen plants to mitigate, to the maximum practical extent, the
133	133	adverse property value impact of the parking facilities upon the
134	134	adjoining residential area; and
135	135	(C) sound reduction measures to mitigate, to the
136	136	maximum practical extent, the noise emitted from such facilities,
137	137	as well as from noise generated by mechanical systems erected in
138	138	conjunction with such parking garages on the formerly residential
139	139	property.
140	140	(c) COSTS OF LITIGATION. A property owners association,
141	141	individual landowners who are actually in residence in a single
142	142	family residence who prevails in any suit seeking damages or
143	143	equitable relief arising under this Subsection 2(b) shall recover
144	144	its costs of litigation, including reasonable attorneys fees,
145	145	witness and other litigation expenses, and costs of court.
146	146	(1) Any property owners association from the affected
147	147	residential area, or bordering on the residential area, and any
148	148	management district more than percent of whose voters are bona fide
149	149	landowner residents, shall be a proper party to any proceeding
150	150	under this Act.
151	151	(2) The Court may, in its discretion,
152	152	(A) award, periodically during the pendency of
153	153	the litigation, interim costs of litigation to the qualified
154	154	landowners or property owners associations, which award shall be
155	155	final and not subject to repayment; and
156	156	(B) award costs of litigation to landowners or
157	157	property owners association in any case in which the litigation
158	158	brought about, directly or indirectly, a beneficial result to the
159	159	deed restricted residential area, adjoining residential areas, or
160	160	to the public interest, notwithstanding which party may have
161	161	technically prevailed on the merits.
162	162	SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.