Opinion ID: 1761976
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The 1965 Pasadena Ordinances

Text: On August 20, 1965 Pasadena passed its Ordinances 1699 and 1700. On October 12, 1965 it passed its Ordinance 1722. The territory described in the Pasadena ordinances consisted of lands twenty-five hundred feet on either side of Middle Bayou and commencing at the southeasterly city limit line of Pasadena. The territory extended southeasterly down the Bayou for about five miles. Ordinance 1722 expanded this area. The area is indicated on the map by the hatched lines. The Pasadena ordinances were enacted pursuant to the special and limited annexation statutes authorized by Articles 1183-1187, Vern.Tex.Civ.Stats. When the Fifty-Eighth Legislature enacted the Municipal Annexation Act, it expressly provided that Articles 1183 through 1187 were not repealed or affected. Acts 1963, 58th Leg. p. 447, ch. 160, Art. III. Article 1183 authorizes a city to extend its boundary for limited purposes so as to include in the city a navigable stream and the land lying on both sides of the stream for a distance of twenty-five hundred feet from the thread of the stream and for a distance of not more than twenty miles in an air-line from the boundary of the city. Our former opinion upheld the validity of Pasadena's 1965 ordinances after we held that Houston Ordinance 62-1766 and Houston's 1965 ordinances were void. Today's decision that the validity of Houston's 1965 ordinances must be determined upon another trial, renders it impossible for us to determine the validity of Pasadena's ordinances. Article 1183 required Pasadena's limited annexation ordinances to extend the city limits from the ordinary boundaries of said city. City of Galena Park v. City of Houston, 133 S.W.2d 162 (Tex. Civ.App.1933, writ ref.). A decision upon another trial that Houston's 1965 ordinances met the requirements of the Municipal Annexation Act would bear upon Pasadena's compliance with Article 1183. The cause must be reversed for a determination of the validity of Houston's 1965 ordinances. The trial court sustained Houston's motion for summary judgment and denied Pasadena's motion. That court declared Houston Ordinances 62-1766, 65-1555AR, 65-1555BR and 65-1561 valid; declared the Pasadena Ordinances 1699, 1700 and 1722 void; and ordered the ouster of Pasadena from the territory described in the Pasadena ordinances. The court of civil appeals affirmed that part of the trial court's judgment which declared Houston Ordinance 62-1766 valid, declared the Pasadena Ordinances void, and ordered the ouster of Pasadena from the disputed territory. That court severed the issues as to the validity of Houston Ordinances 65-1555A, 65-1555AR, 65-1561 and 65-1555BR. The court ordered a reversal and remand with instructions to dismiss as to the issues concerning those ordinances; since Pasadena, having lost its case otherwise, was without any further interest in those issues. We reverse the judgment of the courts below and remand the cause to the trial court for trial consistent with this opinion.