City of Dallas v. TCI West End, Inc.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Texas held that Texas Local Government Code section 54.012(3) authorizes municipalities to pursue civil actions, including civil penalties, to enforce zoning ordinances regulating land use, without an implied health-and-safety limitation. The court also held that section 54.017 provides alternative grounds for civil penalties based on notice and remanded for consideration of whether TCI could have taken action necessary for compliance after receiving notice.

Holdings

1. Section 54.012(3) is not limited to health-and-safety zoning ordinances. It authorizes a municipality to pursue a civil action under chapter 54, subchapter B to enforce an ordinance for zoning that provides for the use of land or classifies a parcel according to the municipality's district classification scheme, including the historic-overlay-district ordinance at issue.
2. Section 54.017 uses the disjunctive 'or' to provide two alternative bases for civil penalties: a defendant may violate an ordinance after receiving notice, or may fail to take action necessary for compliance after receiving notice. The court of appeals erred by considering only whether TCI had notice before the initial demolition and by failing to consider whether TCI could have taken action to comply after receiving actual notice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Texas Local Government Code sections 54.012(3) and 54.017 are limited to enforcement of health-and-safety zoning ordinances.
2. Whether section 54.017 requires actual notice of the ordinance before the defendant commits any violation, or alternatively permits civil penalties when the defendant receives notice and thereafter fails to take action necessary for compliance.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded