Opinion ID: 1769519
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: McGregor's Prior Jurisdiction

Text: The McGregor municipal airport is within what would ordinarily be Waco's extraterritorial limits. The airport constitutes all of the annexed territory in dispute save the stem which connects it with McGregor. The majority says that the airport is subject to the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Waco, but this cannot be so. McGregor acquired its airport on October 13, 1947, long before the enactment of the Municipal Annexation Act, Article 970a, in 1963. Since McGregor's purchase of its municipal airport, it alone has possessed the jurisdiction and municipal powers over that land. The Municipal Airports Act empowers McGregor, not Waco, to plan, establish, develop, construct, enlarge, improve, maintain, equip, operate, regulate, protect and police the land. Art. 46d-2. The Municipal Annexation Act did not interrupt those prior powers of McGregor to regulate, protect and police its airport territory. In 1947 the airport was and continuously since then has been, by statute, under the jurisdiction of McGregor. The majority opinion leaves both cities in an awkward position. McGregor has jurisdiction under the Municipal Airports Act; Waco, by the majority opinion, has jurisdiction under the Municipal Annexation Act. In my judgment, it is Waco that is encroaching upon McGregor's statutory territory, rather than McGregor that is encroaching upon Waco's territory.