City of Rockwall v. Hughes

in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice WAINWRIGHT, Justice MEDINA, and Justice GREEN joined.

A municipality generally must annex land pursuant to a plan giving three years’ notice of its intent to annex. If an area is exempt from the three-year notice requirement, then annexation can take place by use of abbreviated procedures with less notice of a city’s intent to annex.

In this case, a landowner sought inclusion in the City of Rockwall’s three-year annexation plan. The City denied the request, claimed the proposed annexation was statutorily exempt from the three-year requirement, and gave…