And then there was one.
The attorney who successfully extricated a property owner from Taylor’s annexation said he expects another land-owning client to be freed from municipal control soon.
“We may resolve the underlying issues here,” Chris Johns of Austinbased Cobb & Johns PLLC told the Press.
He referred to his client, Kris Kibodeaux, who had planned to build an estate on his land south of Taylor before learning his property had been annexed as part of the extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, of the city.
Johns said city officials are now negotiating the amount of legal fees they must pay back as part of a final resolution to the disannexation dispute, one of many not only in Taylor but across Central Texas.
“The main thing they’re concerned
about is the $50,000 to $60,000 in legal fees involved, and they don’t want to pay that,” Johns said. “We’re in discussions with each other and have treated each other professionally and amicably.”
City officials declined comment. “I appreciate you reaching out,” Taylor spokesman Daniel Seguin wrote in an email to the Press. “Generally, we cannot comment on matters with ongoing litigation, regardless of how close a resolution might be. I will inquire of our legal team and will follow up if there is anything we can add to your story.”
The central issue is so-called disannexation, whereby property owners seek to have their land removed from a city’s ETJ — the legal authority of a government to exert control up to a point beyond its city limits.
Kibodeaux has complained such regulatory oversight was exerted despite the lack of municipal services normally extended to residents.
“I don’t get any more services than I had before,” Kibodeaux told the Press in a recent telephone interview. “I had police services before we were part of the city. I had fire, (Emergency Medical Services), but I didn’t get any utilities, sewer or water. There are no streetlights on the road or sidewalks.”
Legal action unfolds
The imminent resolution comes in the wake of another high-profile disannexation centered on a nearby property owned by Rob Marek ultimately released by the city in March following a protracted legal process.
Marek was also represented by Johns in his fight to be break free from Taylor’s ETJ.
The properties are not far from Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s massive foundry on the southwest side of the city.
The Marek case dates to 2018, after Taylor annexed the rural property in the Windy Ridge Road area while providing scant municipal services.
In the end, the city entered into a settlement agreement centered on legal fees as municipal officials sought a reduction to the $78,259 in attorney’s fees a district court had ruled it owed as part of the annexation fight.
While the Kibodeaux battle has also been protracted, its inclusion into the city’s jurisdiction was swift.
Kibodeaux told the Press he discovered his land had been placed into Taylor’s ETJ within a year after he bought the property. He discovered the ETJ status when he sought to have a culvert built on his property.
“When I purchased the property, I realized the city owns the ditch you have to cross to get to the property, and a culvert needed to be built,” he explained. “As soon as I requested it, all hell broke loose.”
That’s when the legal fight with the city began, he indicated.
Since then, Kibodeaux and his wife — both transplants from Hutto — have had to put their idyllic plans on hold. The couple has delayed construction of their dream home, living in temporary quarters about a third of the size of their planned 3,000-square-foot home.
Even as construction has stalled, Kris Kibodeaux said he now pays about three times more in property taxes since his land was annexed.
Lawmakers step in
The dual annexation fights in Taylor represent something of a microcosm of what’s been occurring statewide, as an increasing number of landowners seek disannexation from municipal governments.
The Legislature last year entered the fray with the passage of Senate Bill 1844 that made it easier for landowners to disannex if a municipal government fails to provide services.
The bill effectively weakened local governments’ ability to annex.
Since the law’s passage in September, a growing number of landowners have liberated themselves from cities. In December, KXAN reported, Austin agreed to disannex some 150 properties adjacent to Lake Austin in an area bounded by FM 2222 to the north, Loop 1 to the east, Bee Cave to the south and FM 620 to the west.
Elsewhere, residents in Lost Creek, Blue Goose Road and River Place have pursued disannexation from Austin, according to media reports.
For his part, attorney Johns said he currently has clients in Austin, Bulverde, Killeen and Manor seeking disannexation. He expressed confidence that his last remaining client in Williamson County — Kibodeaux — seeking disannexation will emerge victorious.
“I’m hopeful we can work something out,” he said.
