Annexation law enables transfer of 34,000+ acres

More than 34,000 acres of land on over 1,000 parcels in Central Texas have been annexed out of the extraterritorial jurisdictions of area cities, according to an analysis by the Austin Business Journal. The annexations are the result of state Senate Bill 2038, which lets property owners on the boundaries of cities free themselves from local regulations that may inhibit their development prospects. The 2,100-acre Tesla factory in East Austin is one of the most high-profile examples of annexations made possible by the law, freeing the company from the city’s air quality and water use laws. Cities can formally approve the annexations or let them cycle through the 45-day waiting period before the land is automatically removed, though there are legal challenges to the law. In July, the city released a memo concerning properties in South Austin that were seeking to annex out of the ETJ. City staffers are also working to determine what consequences the state law will have on local water quality efforts.