What is annexation?
Annexation is the process of bringing property into the City limits. It is one of the primary means by which cities grow. Cities annex territory to provide urbanizing areas with municipal services and to exercise regulatory authority necessary to protect public health and safety. Annexation is also a means of ensuring that current and future residents and businesses outside a city’s corporate limits who benefit from access to the city’s facilities and services share the tax burden associated with constructing and maintaining those facilities and services.
Annexation is also a primary means by which cities benefit from development occurring in the ETJ or Extraterritorial Jurisdiction. This is especially critical in cases where the city has either directly or indirectly facilitated that development.
What is the ETJ? (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction)
With the exception of City-owned land, Buda may only annex land within its ETJ.
The ETJ is the neighboring unincorporated land within a 1 mile radius extending from and adjacent to the city limits that is not within another city’s ETJ. The purpose of the ETJ is to allow cities to plan for growth in the area outside their corporate boundaries and to annex new development. The ETJ does this in two ways. First, there is a statutory prohibition against a municipality annexing into another city’s ETJ. This provides a city with land that it alone can annex encouraging planning and utility extensions in the ETJ. Second, cities are authorized to enforce their subdivision regulations and infrastructure standards (and a very limited number of other regulations) in their ETJ. This ensures that development in the ETJ meets the city’s development standards further facilitating annexation. Under state law a City cannot enforce zoning, land use regulations or density in the ETJ.
The Process of Annexing
An ordinance, which must be approved by the City Council, is required to make an annexation effective. The State of Texas grants authority to cities to annex territory in two different manners:
· Annexation can be requested by a property owner (voluntary exempted process)
· City can annex a property without the consent of the owner (non-voluntary process)
All annexations must be carried out according to State law and the City Charter. As a home rule City of more than 5,000 people, Buda has the authority to annex property contiguous with, and within one mile of its current city limits following procedures consistent with Chapter 43 of the Texas Local Government Code.
City staff will monitor changes in state law and periodically recommend changes to applicable ordinances, the City’s annexation policy and internal procedures consistent with any changes in the law.
For voluntary and non-voluntary annexations (less than 100 occupied parcels in an annexation) the same process applies. The City will hold two public hearings and two ordinance readings to approve the annexation (the hearings take place during our City Council meetings on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month) unless otherwise notified. The annexation is completed upon second reading of the ordinance, which includes adoption of a municipal service plan for the newly annexed area.
The City tries to do all annexation procedures at regular meetings, but the timing of hearings under state law occasionally requires special called meetings. They are always posted.
You can find our City Council, Board, & Commission meetings and the agendas posted on our website. This also includes special called meeting postings. Hover over the government tab on our home page and click on “View Council, Board & Commission meetings” for current agendas. For older agendas click on “Agenda & Minutes Archives.”
We’ve also provided a link directly to our City Council, Board, and Commissions meetings page here: City Council, Board, and Commissions Meetings.
You can find information on pending annexations on our website as well. Hover over the Departments tab and go to “Planning & Engineering.” Scroll down and click on the “Annexation” option.
We’ve included a link to the annexation page here: Pending Annexations.
The City of Buda has adopted an Annexation Strategy to guide decisions regarding annexation, which can be found in the following documents:
Annexation Strategy
Annexation Priorities
Reference Map
Information Sheets on Various Areas of Interest
