## Facts

- Dallas designated the West End as a historic overlay district and adopted ordinances requiring property owners to obtain a determination and approval before demolishing or altering covered buildings.
- TCI West End, Inc., owned a building within the historic overlay district and demolished it without first obtaining the required determination or demolition approval.
- The City sued, seeking civil penalties under Texas Local Government Code §§ 54.012 and 54.017 for violating the historic-overlay ordinance, which is part of the City’s zoning code.
- A jury found for the City, and the trial court awarded $750,000 in civil penalties.
- The court of appeals reversed, holding that (1) Chapter 54 civil penalties apply only to “health and safety” ordinances, not general zoning ordinances, and (2) alternatively, the City presented no evidence that TCI received the statutory “actual notice” required for penalties.
- The Supreme Court of Texas granted review and issued a per curiam opinion.

## Issues

1. Whether Texas Local Government Code §§ 54.012(3) and 54.017 authorize civil enforcement and penalties for general zoning ordinances, including historic-overlay zoning, or are limited to “health and safety” ordinances.
2. What § 54.017 requires regarding “actual notice” of the ordinance provisions as a prerequisite to civil penalties, and whether the evidence satisfied that requirement.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Texas reversed the court of appeals to the extent it held Chapter 54 did not authorize the City’s civil enforcement action for the zoning violation.
- The court held that Chapter 54 is not limited to “health and safety” ordinances and that § 54.012(3) includes zoning ordinances that provide for land use or classify land by district.
- The court did not decide the notice-and-evidence questions under § 54.017, remanding for the court of appeals to reconsider actual-notice sufficiency and address remaining issues under the correct statutory interpretation.

## Legal Principles

- Texas Local Government Code § 54.012(3) authorizes municipal civil actions to enforce zoning ordinances that provide for land use or classify parcels within a district scheme, including historic-overlay zoning.
- Courts may not add an extra-textual “health and safety” limitation to Chapter 54 when the operative statutory language is unambiguous.
- Statutory captions and titles cannot restrict unambiguous statutory text.
- Under § 54.017, civil penalties require that the defendant be “actually notified of the provisions of the ordinance,” with application of that requirement and evidentiary sufficiency left for remand.

## Conclusion

The Supreme Court of Texas held that Chapter 54’s civil-enforcement provisions extend to zoning ordinances such as historic-overlay regulations and rejected a judicially imposed health-and-safety limitation, remanding for further proceedings on the statutory notice requirement and other unresolved issues.


City of Dallas v. TCI W. End, Inc., 463 S.W.3d 53 (Tex. 2015)