Opinion ID: 894706
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Interference with Governmental Functions

Text: As we noted in Prasifka, even if justice requires estoppel, a city will not be estopped if doing so would interfere with its ability to perform its governmental functions. 450 S.W.2d at 836. Here, estopping the City from enforcing the Ordinance will prevent it from freely performing at least one of its governmental functions. This is our first opportunity to clarify what it means to interfere with a governmental function. We first note that precluding a city from performing a specific governmental function in a single instance is not per se interference with its governmental functions. Otherwise, every attempt to estop a city would be considered interference with a governmental function, and the exception stated in Prasifka could never apply. Rather, in determining whether a case presents an appropriate instance in which to apply the exception, the relevant inquiry is whether estopping the city in a single instance will bar the future performance of that governmental function or impede the city's ability to perform its other governmental functions. In conducting this inquiry, the court should first determine what municipal governmental functions, if any, would be affected by estopping the city. We define governmental functions generally as those that are public in nature and performed by the municipality `as the agent of the State in furtherance of general law for the interest of the public at large.' Gates v. City of Dallas, 704 S.W.2d 737, 738-39 (Tex.1986) (quoting City of Crystal City v. Crystal City Country Club, 486 S.W.2d 887, 889 (Tex.Civ. App.Beaumont 1972, writ ref'd n.r.e.)). We have previously determined that certain functions are governmental in nature. See, e.g., City of LaPorte v. Barfield, 898 S.W.2d 288, 291 (Tex.1995) (the hiring and firing of city employees); City of Arlington v. Lillard, 116 Tex. 446, 294 S.W. 829, 830 (1927) (traffic control). Other examples of governmental functions can be found in a 1987 amendment to the Tort Claims Act in which the Legislature specifically defined the phrase. [4] The statute supersedes the common-law definition of governmental function only if a claim falls under the Tort Claims Act; [5] however, the statute is helpful here because it contains a nonexclusive list of specific, municipal functions that the legislature has deemed governmental. [6] See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 101.0215(a). Generally, a court may estop a city only if it would not interfere with the city's ability to perform any act that the Legislature has deemed, or that the court determines to be, a municipal governmental function. [7] More specifically, in the context of estopping a city's enforcement of a duly enacted ordinance, the court should consider whether estoppel will affect public safety, bar future enforcement of the ordinance, or otherwise impede the city's ability to serve the general public. A city should not be estopped if doing so would hinder its ability to ensure public safety. Cf. City of Fredericksburg v. Bopp, 126 S.W.3d 218, 223 (Tex.App.San Antonio 2003, no pet.) (city could be estopped from enforcing a sign ordinance when there was no evidence that doing so would create a public safety hazard). The city may be estopped, however, if doing so will not frustrate the purpose for which the ordinance was enacted nor bar the city from enforcing the ordinance in the future. See id. (no evidence that estopping city from enforcing sign ordinance would give party an unfair business advantage or create a safety hazard, which were the two concerns the ordinance was enacted to address); see also Dallas County Flood Control Dist. No. 1 v. Cross, 815 S.W.2d 271, 284 (Tex.App.Dallas 1991, writ denied) (city could be estopped, even though it could cost the city money, if doing so created no legal barrier to its performance of its governmental functions in the future). In this case, the court of appeals held that fact issues exist concerning whether the City's ability to perform its governmental functions would be impaired if it was estopped from barring the Longfield Drive exit. 131 S.W.3d at 260. The evidence demonstrates, however, that estopping the City would impede the City's attempt to answer the concerns of residents in the neighborhood abutting the commercially zoned property on which Super Wash now stands. The residents sought to have a fence erected along Longfield Drive in order to prevent commercial traffic from directly accessing the residential street. Assuming without deciding that estopping the City from enforcing the Ordinance would leave the City free to enforce other zoning laws, it would nevertheless preclude the City from employing its chosen method of regulating traffic along Longfield Drive and, thereby, remove some of its discretion in determining how to best protect the public's safety, both of which are classic governmental functions. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 101.0215(a) (governmental functions are those exercised in the general public's interest and include the ability to regulate traffic); Lillard, 294 S.W. at 830 (traffic control is governmental in nature). Because estopping the City would interfere with its performance of its governmental functions, the exception stated in Prasifka does not apply.