Sec. 43.0753. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS. (a) In this section:

(1) "District" means a conservation and reclamation district that is created or operating under Chapters 49 and 54, Water Code, and that is located entirely within the boundaries of a planned community and entirely within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality.

(2) "Municipality" means a municipality with a population of 1.6 million or more.

(3) "Planned community" means a planned community of 10,000 acres or more that is subject in whole or in part to a restrictive covenant that contains an ad valorem-based assessment on real property used or to be used, in any part, to fund governmental or quasi-governmental services and facilities within and for the planned community.

(4) "Regional development agreement" means a contract or agreement entered into under this section or in anticipation of the enactment of this section and any amendment, modification, supplement, addition, renewal, or extension to or of the contract or agreement or any proceeding relating to the contract or agreement.

(b) Notwithstanding any contrary law or municipal charter provision, the governing body of a municipality and the governing body of one or more districts may enter into a regional development agreement to further regional cooperation between the municipality and the district.

(c) A regional development agreement may allow:

(1) any type of annexation of any part of the land in the district to be deferred for a mutually agreeable period of time;

(2) facilities or services to be provided to the land within the district by any party to the agreement or by any other person, including optional, backup, emergency, mutual aid, or supplementary facilities or services;

(3) payments to be made by the municipality to the district or another person or by the district or another person to the municipality for services provided to the district or municipality;

(4) standards for requesting and receiving any form of required consent or approval from the municipality;

(5) a district to issue bonds, notes, refunding bonds, or other forms of indebtedness;

(6) the coordination of local, regional, and areawide planning;

(7) remedies for breach of the agreement;

(8) the modification, amendment, renewal, extension, or termination of the agreement;

(9) any other district to join the agreement at any time;

(10) third-party beneficiaries to be specifically designated and conferred rights or remedies under the agreement; and

(11) any other term to which the parties agree.

(d) A regional development agreement must be:

(1) in writing;

(2) approved by the governing body of the municipality and the district; and

(3) recorded:

(A) in the real property records of any county in which any part of a district that is party to the agreement is located; and

(B) in any manner that complies with Subchapter J, Chapter 49, Water Code.

(e) Subject to compliance with Subsection (d)(1) and (3), another district may join or become a party to a regional development agreement in the manner authorized in the agreement.

(f) A regional development agreement does not need to describe the land contained within the boundaries of a district that is a party to the agreement. The agreement must be recorded in the deed records of any county in which any land in the district is located.

(g) A regional development agreement binds each party to the agreement and each owner and future owner of land that is subject to the agreement. If a party or landowner is excluded or removed from an agreement, the removal or exclusion is effective on the recordation requirement of Subsection (d)(3).

(h) A regional development agreement may not require a district to provide public services and facilities to a person to whom the district is not otherwise authorized to provide services or facilities or to make payments from any source from which the district is not otherwise authorized to make payments.

(i) A district may contract with any person for services or facilities to be provided at no cost to the district or for the payment of funds by the person in support of a regional development agreement.

(j) A regional development agreement and any action taken under the agreement is not subject to any method of approval under the Water Code or any method of appeal under the Water Code.

(k) Notwithstanding any defect, ambiguity, discrepancy, invalidity, or unenforceability of a regional development agreement that has been voluntarily entered into and fully executed by the parties thereto, or any contrary law, common law doctrine, or municipal charter provision, and for the duration of any annexation deferral period established in the regional development agreement during which a district continues to perform its obligations under the regional development agreement:

(1) Sections 42.023 and 42.041(b)-(e) do not apply to any land or owner of land within a district that is a party to the regional development agreement; and

(2) the governing body of the municipality may not include the area covered by the regional development agreement in a municipal annexation plan and may not initiate or continue an annexation proceeding relating to that area after the effective date of this section.

(l) This section shall be liberally construed so as to give effect to its legislative purposes and to sustain the validity of a regional development agreement if the agreement was entered into under or in anticipation of this section.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 293, Sec. 2, eff. May 29, 1999. Renumbered from Sec. 43.0752 by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 21.001(83), eff. Sept. 1, 2001.