Flower Mound Officials Respond to Temporary Restraining Order and Annexation Lawsuit

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Flower Mound Officials Respond to Temporary Restraining Order and Annexation Lawsuit

The Town of Flower Mound received notification on Monday, September 13 that two residents of Denton County, Mary and David Rettig, have filed a lawsuit and requested a temporary restraining order against both the Town of Flower Mound and the Town of Bartonville in relation to what they perceived to be a potential threat of an annexation of their residence by either municipality.

After being notified that neither municipality is currently pursuing annexation of the Rettigs’ property, State District Judge Doug Robison denied the temporary restraining order. The week prior to the lawsuit being filed, Flower Mound officials notified Bartonville officials that the ordinance Bartonville approved on August 22 releasing its extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) was both incorrect and incomplete: (1) there was a five-acre discrepancy between the property actually released compared to the legal description of the amount of property released, and (2) the legal description of the property released did not close, and therefore was invalid. Bartonville’s engineer confirmed this in writing to the Town of Flower Mound. As a result, the actions that the Town of Bartonville undertook to place the property in Flower Mound’s ETJ are null and void, and the property currently remains in the ETJ of the Town of Bartonville and Denton County.

Flower Mound has a practice of protecting its boundaries against further industrialization by eliminating its ETJ through annexation, as demonstrated with the completion of a similar annexation on September 9. However, the Town would not be able to do so with the property in question due to the above mentioned error on the part of the Town of Bartonville. Because a municipality cannot legally annex land that does not lie within its ETJ, the Town of Flower Mound’s involvement in future legal action is projected to be minimal. Town officials will continue to monitor all legal proceedings and act accordingly to protect the best interest of all Flower Mound residents.

Posted 09/14/2010.