2009 Texas Code
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE
TITLE 10. PARKS AND OTHER RECREATIONAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
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.