CHAPTER 315. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS RELATING TO MUNICIPAL PARKS AND OTHER RECREATIONAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE
TITLE 10. PARKS AND OTHER RECREATIONAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
SUBTITLE A. MUNICIPAL PARKS AND OTHER RECREATIONAL AND CULTURAL
RESOURCES
CHAPTER 315. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS RELATING TO MUNICIPAL PARKS
AND OTHER RECREATIONAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
Sec. 315.001. MUNICIPAL PARKS OUTSIDE MUNICIPAL LIMITS: CHARGES;
CUMULATIVE EFFECT WITH CHARTER PROVISIONS; LIABILITY. (a) The
governing body of a municipality with a park or playground
outside the municipal limits may fix and collect reasonable
charges for use of the facilities by the public. All proceeds
from the charges shall be used for the support, maintenance, and
improvement of the municipal parks and playgrounds.
(b) The provisions of this title relating to the acquisition,
operation, and maintenance of parks or playgrounds outside the
municipal limits are cumulative of powers provided by a municipal
charter, and the municipal charter may provide different powers
in that regard.
(c) A municipality that acquires a park or playground outside
the municipal limits is not liable for personal injuries
resulting from or caused by any defective, unsound, or unsafe
condition of the park or playground that results from or is
caused by any negligence, want of skill, or lack of care of any
governing board, officer, servant, employee, or other person with
regard to the construction, management, conduct, or maintenance
of the park or playground.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 315.002. ESTABLISHMENT OF MUNICIPAL STREETS THROUGH CERTAIN
PARKS. (a) Unless approved by a majority of the qualified
voters voting in a referendum on the question, a municipality may
not establish or dedicate a thoroughfare, public street, or alley
through property that:
(1) is dedicated or used for park purposes; and
(2) includes land owned by the state on which is situated one or
more buildings in the construction of which the state has
expended at least $50,000.
(b) A municipality may, without an election, maintain driveways
through the land described by Subsection (a) if the driveways are
for park purposes only and are not for use as general
thoroughfares.
(c) This section does not apply to the campus of an educational
institution or to the grounds of an eleemosynary institution.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 315.003. IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC GROUNDS BY TYPE A
GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITY. A Type A general-law municipality may
provide for the enclosing of, and regulate and improve, all
public grounds belonging to the municipality, and may direct and
regulate the planting and preserving of ornaments and shade trees
along streets and sidewalks and in public grounds.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 315.004. SPECIAL ASSESSMENT TO PAY FOR PARKS: MUNICIPALITY
WITH 12,000 OR MORE INHABITANTS. (a) A municipality with 12,000
or more inhabitants that condemns land for laying out,
establishing, or enlarging a park, parkway, or pleasure ground
may provide by ordinance that the cost of the land and
improvements be paid for, wholly or partly to an extent not
exceeding the special benefits received, by the property owners
who own property in the vicinity of and are benefitted by the
park, parkway, or pleasure ground.
(b) The municipality may fix liens against the benefitted
property to the extent of the special benefits. Neither an
assessment nor a lien is effective against homestead property.
(c) The manner of assessing and collecting from the property
owner is the same as provided by law in connection with the
opening or widening of streets. Assessments may be made payable
in not more than 16 installments, the last maturing in not more
than 15 years, and may bear interest at a rate not exceeding
eight percent a year.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 315.005. MUNICIPAL LIBRARY IN TYPE A GENERAL-LAW
MUNICIPALITY. A Type A general-law municipality may establish a
free library in the municipality, adopt rules for the proper
management of the library, and appropriate municipal revenues for
the library's management or improvement.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.
Sec. 315.006. LIABILITY FOR ADVERSELY AFFECTING HISTORIC
STRUCTURE OR PROPERTY. (a) In this section, "historic structure
or property" means a historic structure as defined by Section
442.001, Government Code, or a structure or property that is
designated as historic by a political subdivision of the state,
the state, or the federal government.
(b) A person is liable to a municipality for damages if the
municipality has a demolition permit and a building permit
procedure and the person:
(1) demolishes, causes to be demolished, or otherwise adversely
affects the structural, physical, or visual integrity of a
historic structure or property that is located in the
municipality; and
(2) does not obtain the appropriate demolition or building
permit or other form of written permission from the municipality
before beginning to demolish, cause the demolition of, or
otherwise adversely affect the structural, physical, or visual
integrity of the structure or property.
(c) If the structural, physical, or visual integrity of the
structure or property is adversely affected to the extent that it
is not feasible to restore the structural, physical, or visual
integrity substantially to its former level, the damages are
equal to the cost of constructing, using as many of the original
materials as possible, a new structure or property that is a
reasonable facsimile of the historic structure or property and
the cost of attorney's, architect's, and appraiser's fees and
other costs related to the enforcement of this section. If it is
feasible to restore the structural, physical, or visual integrity
of the structure or property substantially to its former level,
the damages are equal to the cost of the restoration, using as
many of the original materials as possible, and the cost of
attorney's, architect's, and appraiser's fees and other costs
related to the enforcement of this section.
(d) Instead of accepting monetary damages, the municipality may
permit the liable person to construct, using as many of the
original materials as possible, a structure or property that is a
reasonable facsimile of the demolished historic structure or
property or to restore, using as many of the original materials
as possible, the historic structure or property and to pay the
cost of attorney's, architect's, and appraiser's fees and other
costs related to the enforcement of this section.
(e) Damages recovered under this section shall be deposited in a
special fund in the municipal treasury and may be used only to
construct, using as many of the original materials as possible, a
structure or property that is a reasonable facsimile of the
demolished historic structure or property, to restore, using as
many of the original materials as possible, the historic
structure or property, or to restore another historic structure
or property, as determined by the municipality.
(f) The construction of a facsimile structure or property under
Subsection (d) or (e) must be undertaken at the location
designated by the municipality, which may be the same location as
that of the demolished historic structure or property.
(g) The municipality may make contracts and adopt ordinances as
necessary to carry out this section.
(h) Each municipality shall file in the real property records of
the county clerk's office of each county in which the
municipality is located a verified written instrument listing
each historic structure or property that is located in the
municipality and county and is designated as historic by a
political subdivision of the state by:
(1) the street address, if available in the municipal files;
(2) the legal description of the real property on which the
structure or property is located; and
(3) the name of the owner of the real property, if the name is
available in the municipal files.
(i) Subsections (a) through (g) of this section apply only to a
historic structure or property on or after the date the
instrument has been filed under Subsection (h) and indexed.
(j) A person is liable to the Texas Historical Commission for
damages if:
(1) the person:
(A) demolishes, causes to be demolished, or otherwise adversely
affects the structural, physical, or visual integrity of a
historic structure or property that is located in the
municipality; and
(B) does not obtain the appropriate demolition or building
permit or other form of written permission from the municipality
before beginning to demolish, cause the demolition of, or
otherwise adversely affect the structural, physical, or visual
integrity of the structure or property; and
(2) the commission determines that the municipality has not
filed a civil action under Subsection (b) and has not taken
appropriate action to carry out Subsection (d) before the 90th
day after the date the action described by Subdivision (1)(A)
occurs.
(k) If the Texas Historical Commission makes a determination
under Subsection (j)(2), the commission may enforce this section,
and the municipality may not act under this section. Damages
recovered under this subsection shall be deposited in the Texas
preservation trust fund account.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 594, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1991. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 109, Sec. 22, eff.
Aug. 30, 1995.