Section 293.51 - Land and Easement Acquisition(a) Water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, drainage, and recreational facilities easements. All easements required within a district's boundaries for water lines; sanitary sewer lines; storm sewer lines; sanitary control at water plants; noise and odor control at wastewater treatment plants; the right-of-way necessary for a drainage swale or ditch constructed generally along a street or road in lieu of a storm sewer; recreational facilities; and the right-of-way area required by governmental jurisdictions for streets that are used for recreational facilities, shall be dedicated to the district or the public by the developer without payment or reimbursement from the district. If any easements are required for such facilities on land not owned by a developer in the district, the district may acquire such land at its appraised market value, and may also pay legal, engineering, surveying, or court fees and expenses incurred in acquiring such land, and § 293.47 of this title (relating to Thirty Percent of District Construction Costs to be Paid by Developer) shall not apply to such acquisition.(b) Land acquisition. A district may acquire the following in fee simple from any person, including the developer, in accordance with this section, and § 293.47 of this title shall not apply to such acquisition: (1) plant sites, including required sanitary control at water plants and noise and odor control at wastewater treatment plants;(2) lift or pump station sites;(3) drainage channels other than those described in subsection (a) of this section and other than those which are natural waterways with defined bed and banks;(4) detention/retention pond sites;(6) mitigation sites for compliance with flood plain regulation and wetlands regulation or payments in lieu of mitigation;(7) mitigation sites for compliance with endangered species permits or payments in lieu of mitigation, the cost of which shall be shared between the district and the developer as provided in § 293.44(a)(22) of this title (relating to Special Considerations); or(8) recreational facility sites that are outside of the right-of-way required by governmental jurisdictions to be dedicated for streets and roads.(c) Price of land acquisition. (1) If a district acquires such a site, as described in subsection (b) of this section, which is outside of the 100-year floodplain, from a developer within the district or subsequent owner of developer reimbursables, the price shall be determined by adding to the price paid by the developer for such land or easement in a bona fide transaction between unrelated parties the developer's actual taxes and interest paid to the date of acquisition by the district. The interest rate shall not exceed the net effective interest rate on the bonds sold, or the interest rate actually paid by the developer for loans obtained for this purpose, whichever is less. If a developer uses its own funds rather than borrowed funds, the net effective interest rate on the bonds sold shall be applied. Provided, however, if the executive director determines that such price appears to exceed the fair market value of such land or easement, the executive director may require an appraisal to be obtained by the district from a qualified independent appraiser and payment to the seller may be limited to the fair market value of such land as shown by the appraisal; if the seller acquired the land after the improvements to be financed by the district were constructed, the price shall be limited to the fair market value of such land or easement established without the improvements being constructed; or if the seller acquired the land more than five years before the creation of the district and the records relating to the actual price paid and the taxes and interest costs are impossible or difficult to obtain, the district, upon executive director approval, may purchase such site at fair market value based on an appraisal prepared by a qualified, independent appraiser. If the land or easement needed by the district is being acquired based on the appraised value, the application to the commission for approval to purchase such a site must contain a request by the district to acquire the site in such manner and must explain the reason that the seller is unable to provide the price and carrying cost records.(2) If a district acquires such a site, as described in subsection (b) of this section, which is within the 100-year floodplain, from a developer within the district or subsequent owner of developer reimbursables, the price shall be the lesser of the amount as determined by paragraph (1) of this subsection or fair market value based on an appraisal prepared by a qualified, independent appraiser hired by the district's board upon their initiative.(3) If the land or easement needed by the district is being acquired from an entity other than a developer or subsequent owner of developer reimbursables in the district, the district may pay the fair market value established by a qualified, independent appraiser, and may also pay legal, engineering, surveying, or court fees and expenses incurred in acquiring such land or easement.(d) Joint storm water detention/water amenity facilities. If a detention or retention pond is also being used as an amenity by the developer or as a recreational facility as described in § 293.44(a)(24) of this title, payment to the developer shall be limited to that cost that is associated only with the drainage or recreational function of the facility. The land costs of combined water amenity and detention facilities should be shared with the developer on the basis of the volume of water storage attributable to each use, with the water amenity portion subject to reimbursement as a recreational facility in the percentage described in § 293.44(a)(24) of this title.(e) Land or easements outside the district's boundaries. Land or easements needed for any district facilities outside the district's boundaries may be purchased by the district as part of the district project at a price not to exceed the fair market value thereof. The district may also pay legal, engineering, surveying, or court fees and expenses spent in acquiring such land. If the land or easements are purchased from a developer who owns land within the district, the price paid by the district shall be determined in accordance with subsection (c) of this section and such purchase price shall be subject to the provisions of § 293.47 of this title unless the facilities constructed in, on, or over such land, easements, or rights-of-way are exempt from such contribution or the district is exempt from such contribution under the terms of § 293.47 of this title. Districts operating under Texas Water Code (TWC), Chapter 54, except one affected by House Bill 2965, 76th Legislature, 1999, are prohibited from exercising the power of eminent domain outside the district's boundaries to acquire: (1) a site for a water treatment plant, water storage facility, wastewater treatment plant, or wastewater disposal plant;(2) a site for a park, swimming pool, or other recreational facility, as defined by TWC, §49.462;(3) an exclusive easement through a county regional park; or(4) a site or easement for a road project.(f) Shared land or easements outside the district's boundaries. If the out-of-district land or easement is required for a drainage channel downstream of the district and a portion of such land or easement is or will be needed by another district(s), whether upstream or downstream, for development, the district shall only pay for its proportionate share of the land costs based upon the acreage of the drainage area contributing drainage to such drainage channel at full development. However, in the event there is no developer in another district(s) to dedicate the district's pro rata share of the required land, the district may pay the entire cost to acquire such land, but the commission shall order the other district(s) to reimburse the district at such time as development occurs in the other district that requires such drainage right-of-way.(g) Regional facilities. A district may use bond proceeds to acquire the entire site for any regional plant, lift or pump station, detention pond, drainage channel, levee, or recreational facility if the commission determines that regionalization will be promoted and the district will recover the appropriate pro rata share of the site costs, carrying costs, and bond issuance costs from future participants. The district may pay the fair market value based on an appraisal for such regional site and also may pay legal, engineering, surveying, or court fees and expenses incurred in acquiring such land. The commission shall, by separate order, order other districts participating in such regional facility to reimburse the acquiring district a proportionate share of such site costs, carrying costs, and bond issuance costs at such time as development occurs in such other districts requiring such regional site.(h) Certification by licensed professional engineer. Prior to the district purchasing or obligating district funds for the purchase of sites for water plants, wastewater plants, or lift or pump stations, the district must have a licensed professional engineer certify that the site is suitable for the purposes for which it intended and identify what areas will need to be designated as buffer zones to satisfy all entities with jurisdictional authority.(i) Joint recreational and drainage/detention sites without a constant level lake. If a drainage/detention site will also be used for recreational facility purposes, the costs are allocated 50% to drainage/detention and 50% to recreational purposes. If the recreational facility site includes an existing drainage/detention easement, then the area used to determine the reimbursement amount for the site excludes the area of the existing easement.(j) Notwithstanding subsections (d) and (i) of this subsection, a district is not required to prorate the costs of a site between the primary water, wastewater, or drainage purpose and any secondary recreational facilities purpose if a licensed professional engineer certifies that the site is reasonably sized for the primary water, wastewater, or drainage purpose pursuant to the provisions of TWC, §49.4641, as amended.30 Tex. Admin. Code § 293.51
The provisions of this §293.51 adopted to be effective September 5, 1986, 11 TexReg 3736; amended to be effective June 30, 1993, 18 TexReg 3758; amended to be effective April 15, 1994, 19 TexReg 2301; amended to be effective June 5, 1998, 23 TexReg 5715; amended to be effective September 14, 2000, 25 TexReg 8955; amended to be effective October 6, 2002, 27 TexReg 9365; amended to be effective May 5, 2005, 30 TexReg 2533; amended to be effective October 26, 2006, 31 TexReg 8699; amended to be effective April 21, 2013, 38 TexReg 2372; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 39, Number 45, November 7, 2014, TexReg 8735, eff. 11/13/2014