(a) When the governing body of a municipality considers it necessary, the municipality may exercise the right of eminent domain for a public purpose to acquire public or private property, whether located inside or outside the municipality, for any of the following purposes:
- (1) the providing, enlarging, or improving of a city hall; police station; jail or other law enforcement detention facility; fire station; library; school or other educational facility; academy; auditorium; hospital; sanatorium; market house; slaughterhouse; warehouse; elevator; railroad terminal; airport; ferry; ferry landing; pier; wharf; dock or other shipping facility; loading or unloading facility; alley, street, or other roadway; park, playground, or other recreational facility; square; water works system, including reservoirs, other water supply sources, watersheds, and water storage, drainage, treatment, distribution, transmission, and emptying facilities; sewage system including sewage collection, drainage, treatment, disposal, and emptying facilities; electric or gas power system; cemetery; and crematory;
- (2) the determining of riparian rights relative to the municipal water works;
- (3) the straightening or improving of the channel of any stream, branch, or drain;
- (4) the straightening, widening, or extending of any alley, street, or other roadway; and
- (5) for any other municipal purpose the governing body considers advisable.
- (b) A municipality condemning land under this section may take a fee simple title to the property if the governing body expresses the intention to do so.
Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 149, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.