Dig Deeper Texas

Another nail in the coffin of slash and burn developers?

MySA.com: Metro | State

The city sued Continental Homes, a division of D.R. Horton Inc., last summer after an inspector noticed heavy clearing going on in the area near Talley and Culebra roads.

The inspector checked and found that the contractors did not have a permit. They kept clearing anyway, according to arguments before the court, and ended up cutting down what inspectors later determined were more than 14,000 significant trees and 1,455 heritage trees, Bernard said.

Not likely. Given 166th District Court Judge Martha Tanner’s ruling, maybe more like a piece of bubblegum that will take all of 30 seconds to remove from their shoes as they leave the courthouse.

MySA.com: Metro | State

Tanner also ruled that the city could not collect $15.7 million in civil penalties because, she wrote, the city is not entitled to recover a civil penalty for violation of its ordinances in the extraterritorial jurisdiction. But city officials clung happily to her ruling that the ordinance still applies in the extraterritorial jurisdiction, saying that had been the “elephant in the room” for some time.

I think the reporter succinctly captured the significance of the ruling for the city in describing how city officials “clung happily” to her ruling that the ordinance does apply in extraterritorial jurisdiction. It doesn’t mean that it will be enforced or that companies will suffer consequences for failing to comply, just that it exists.

Technorati Tags: Martha Tanner, Continental Homes, Kallison Ranch, John McClish, Tim Pruski, D.R. Horton, vested rights, extraterritorial jurisdiction, San Antonio, Texas

Filed under: Continental Homes, John McClish, Kallison Ranch, Martha Tanner, extraterrritorial jurisdiction, vested rights