Could Harris County remove and sell trees from county road rights-of-way without paying the underlying landowner?

Trees and shrubs in county road rights-of-way

Plain-English summary

Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox concluded in 1990 that Harris County generally could remove or dispose of trees and shrubs within a county-road easement when they interfered with road purposes. The result remained subject to the terms of the conveyance, dedication, or condemnation judgment through which the county acquired the right-of-way.

"Subject to the terms of the conveyance, dedication, condemnation judgment, etc. under which the right-of-way was acquired, the Harris County Commissioners Court generally has authority, for right-of-way purposes, to remove and dispose of trees or shrubs from the public right-of-way easement of a county road or prevent their planting without compensation to the fee owner."

Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1990/jm1241.pdf

The opinion reasoned that the landowner's interest in vegetation within the easement remained subordinate to proper public use of the right-of-way. Trees could be removed without additional compensation when road construction, maintenance, widening, or sight-distance needs required their removal. Removal beyond the easement's scope could present a different question.

Cut trees were personal property. Trees sold in anticipation that they would be cut and removed were also treated as constructively severed personal property. The county's sale therefore fell under the salvage and surplus property provisions of subchapter D of Local Government Code chapter 263.

"Cut trees, or trees 'constructively severed' by having been sold in the anticipation that they will be cut and removed from the land where they were growing, are personal rather than real property."

Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1990/jm1241.pdf

The Harris County Road Law also allowed the commissioners court to require subdivision road dedications of specified widths and without reservations allowing private parties to maintain trees or shrubs that could obstruct full use of the right-of-way.

"The Harris County Commissioners Court may, under the Harris County Road Law, require that rights-of-way dedicated in subdivision plats be of certain widths, and unencumbered by reservations of the right to maintain trees or shrubs within the right-of-way area."

Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1990/jm1241.pdf

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1990. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion said for affected groups in 1990

County commissioners and road departments

The commissioners court could control vegetation within road easements for construction, maintenance, widening, and sight-distance purposes. Its factual decisions were generally conclusive absent fraud or gross abuse of discretion.

Owners of land underlying road easements

The fee owner retained an interest in trees and shrubs, but that interest was subordinate to proper exercise of the public easement. Compensation depended on the easement's terms and whether the removal stayed within road purposes.

County purchasing and property-disposal officials

Once trees were cut, or sold in anticipation of cutting, the opinion treated them as personal property. The applicable sale process came from the county's salvage and surplus property rules rather than its real-property sale rules.

Subdivision developers and county engineers

Harris County could require dedicated road rights-of-way to meet specified widths and to be free of reservations that could prevent full right-of-way use.

Common questions

Could Harris County remove any tree located in a county road right-of-way?

Only for proper right-of-way purposes and subject to the terms under which the easement was acquired. The opinion did not approve removal unrelated to construction, maintenance, widening, visibility, or another easement purpose.

Did the underlying landowner have to be paid whenever a tree was removed?

Generally no when the tree interfered with proper use of the road easement. The opinion warned that a different result could follow if the county exceeded the easement's scope.

Were standing trees real property or personal property?

Growing, unsevered trees were generally part of the land. Cut trees, and trees sold in contemplation of cutting and removal, were personal property.

Which county sale rules applied to removed trees?

The opinion applied subchapter D of Local Government Code chapter 263, governing salvage or surplus personal property.

Could a subdivision plat reserve a private right to maintain trees within the dedicated road area?

The opinion concluded that Harris County could require the dedication to be unencumbered by such a reservation when it might impair full use of the required right-of-way width.

Background and legal framework

A county could acquire road rights-of-way by dedication, purchase, condemnation, or prescription. When the county held an easement rather than the fee, the underlying owner retained rights that did not interfere with the public road use.

The opinion relied on Texas cases holding that the public authority could make fuller use of a road easement as traffic and road conditions changed. It also recognized that use exceeding the terms of the particular easement could require additional compensation.

Local Government Code chapter 263 separated county dispositions of real property from dispositions of salvage and surplus personal property. The opinion used the law of severance to classify cut trees as personal property.

The Harris County Road Law gave the commissioners court control over county roads and authority to set right-of-way widths. JM-1241 read that width authority as including the implied power to reject reservations that could obstruct use of the entire dedicated area.

Key citations

• V.T.C.S. article 6702-1, including sections 2.002, 2.004, 2.006, and 2.418
• Harris County Road Law, Special Laws, Acts 1913, 33d Leg., chapter 17
• Local Gov't Code §§ 232.002, 232.003, 232.006, and 263.151
• Tex. Const. art. I, § 17
• City of Fort Worth v. Gilliland, 169 S.W.2d 149 (Tex. Comm'n App. 1943, opinion adopted)
• Holcomb v. City of Fort Worth, 175 S.W.2d 427 (Tex. Civ. App. - Fort Worth 1943, writ ref'd)
• McCraw v. City of Dallas, 420 S.W.2d 793 (Tex. Civ. App. 1967, writ ref'd n.r.e.)
• Rogers v. Fort Worth Poultry & Egg Co., 185 S.W.2d 165 (Tex. Civ. App. - Fort Worth 1944, no writ)
• Davis v. Conn, 161 S.W. 39 (Tex. Civ. App. - Texarkana 1913, writ dism'd)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-1241
• Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1990/jm1241.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Obvious character-level OCR errors have been corrected where verified against the scan and reporter citations; minor errors may remain. The linked PDF is authoritative.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS .

JIM MATTOX November 8, 1990
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Honorable Mike Driscoll Opinion No. JM-1241
Harris County Attorney
1001 Preston, Suite 634 Re: Authority of a county to
Houston, Texas 77002 trim, remove, or sell trees
from county road rights-of-way
(RQ-1970)
Dear Mr. Driscoll:
You ask three questions regarding Harris County’s
authority with respect to trees and shrubs growing within
7 the rights-of-way of county roads. Your first question is:
To what extent can the county trim,
remove, sell or otherwise dispose of trees or
shrubs from the right-of-way of county roads
or prevent the planting of such trees and
shrubs without being required to compensate
owners of the fee upon which the right-of-way
exists?
Counties under their authority to open and lay out roads may
acquire the rights-of-way for such roads by dedication,
purchase, condemnation, or prescriptive easement. See
V.T.C.S. art. 6702-1, subch. A (the County Road and Bridge
Act); 36 D. Brooks, County and Special District Law,
§§ 40.7, 40.25 (Texas Practice 1989). Your question and
brief indicate that you are concerned about the situation
where the property interest the county has acquired in the
right-of-way is in the nature of an easement, the fee
interest being retained by the owner of the property abut-
ting the right-of-way. See 43 Tex. Jur. 3d Highways § 116
(1985)...
We caution at the outset that resolution of the issues
presented in your first question might ultimately depend on
the facts of the particular case -- e.g., the provisions of
the conveyance, condemnation proceeding judgment, or dedica-
tion under which the county acquired the particular right-
of-way in question. We cannot anticipate every factual
p. 6600

Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 2 (JM-1241)
situation that might arise. The following discussion of .
pertinent legal authority is offered for your guidance.

We think it is clear that the Harris County Commis- .
sioners Court in exercising a right-of-way easement general-
ly has authority to prevent the planting of trees and shrubs
within the right-of-way and to remove or cause to be removed
trees or shrubs growing there, when the court makes a
reasonable finding that the trees or shrubs would interfere
with the right-of-way purposes for which the easement was
obtained. See Harris County Road Law, §§ 1, 16, Special
Laws, Acts 1913, 33d Leg., ch. 17, at 64 (Harris County
Commissioners Court to have control of all roads laid out or
constructed by the county and of all matters in connection
with the construction or maintenance of such roads); id.
§ 12 (condemnation authority); id. § 33 (Harris County Road
Law cumulative of other laws); V.T.C.S. art. 6702-1,
§ 2.002(b) (1) (under the County Road and Bridge Act, commis-
sioners court may make and enforce all reasonable and
necessary rules for the construction and maintenance of
county roads except as prohibited by law); id. § 2.004
(condemnation authority). We note, too, that where the
trees or shrubs are determined to impair visibility for
motorists using the county road in question, Harris County
as one with a population of 950,000 or more has authority

under subchapter F of article 6702-1, through its commis-
sioners court, to define sight distances at intersections
and to prohibit and provide for the removal of trees and
shrubs obstructing such sight distances (presumably both
within and without the area of the right-of-way). In the
absence of a showing of fraud or gross abuse of discretion,
the commissioners court’s determinations as to the need for
removal of trees and shrubs in the right-of-way for
right-of-way purposes would be conclusive. See, e.g., West
Prod. Co. v. Penn, 131 S.W.2d 131 (Tex. Civ. App. - San
Antonio 1939, writ ref'd).

As to whether the owner of the underlying fee in the
right-of-way is entitled to compensation for removal of
trees or shrubs from the right-of-way, though we note some
possible inconsistencies among the Texas cases, we think
that the cases dealing most directly with this question

p. 6601

Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 3 (JM-1241)
indicate that the fee owner generally has no right to com-
pensation.1
In a decision approved by the supreme court, the
Commission of Appeals in City of Fort Worth v. Gilliland,
169 S.W.2d 149 (Tex. Comm’n App. 1943, opinion adopted),
ruled that fee owners could not enjoin the city’s destruc-
tion of curbs, sidewalks, trees, or shrubs in the street
right-of-way, even where those improvements had been in-
stalled by the fee owners in compliance with a city ordi-
nance, when the city, the right-of-way easement holder,
later widened the street. The court stated that the facts
of the case did "not disclose a private right invested in
any of the plaintiffs in relation to the street or to any of
the improvements in the street." Id. at 150.
Subsequently, in Holcomb v. City of Fort Worth, 175
S.W.2d 427 (Tex. Civ. App. - Fort Worth 1943, writ ref’d)
one of the unsuccessful Gilliland plaintiffs sued the city
for damages occasioned by the city’s removal of the trees
and shrubs. The Holcomb court, citing Gilliland, ruled that
"the plaintiff had no property rights in the grounds and
improvements placed thereon by him." Id. at 430. It
affirmed the trial court’s sustaining of the defendant
city’s position that there had been no showing that the city
“had abandoned any of its rights and privileges under the
law to use the whole of said street for such public purposes
as were required under all changing circumstances." Id. at
428.
Where a right-of-way easement is acquired, by condemna-
tion at least, the fee owner is presumed to have been fully
compensated at such time for the damages to his property,
including appurtenances such as trees, which will arise from

1. Section 2.418 of article 6702-1 provides that the
   commissioners court "shall pay the owner an amount
   sufficient to cover the loss of the value of § the
   obstruction, if any, incurred by the owner by reason of the
   removal" of obstructions to sight distances under subchapter
   F. As the commissioners court’s authority under subchapter
   F is not limited to the area within the right-of-way but
   also extends to land held in fee outside the right-of-way
   easement, we do not think that section 2.418 in itself
   requires payment for removal of trees and shrubs within the
   right-of-way easement.
   p. 6602

Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 4 (JM-1241)
the proper use of the easement. City of La Grange v.
Pieratt, 175 S.W.2d 243 (Tex. 1943). Authorities even
acknowledge that as the taking of an easement for road
purposes by condemnation generally leaves the condemnee with .
little or no use of the right-of-way area, he is often
entitled to damages equivalent to those he could have for
the taking of the whole fee. See Thompson v. Janes, 251
S.W.2d 953 (Tex. 1952). While the fee owner may have a
right to use portions of the right-of-way for growing trees
or crops, his right extends only so far as it does not
interfere with the paramount rights of the easement holder
to use the right-of-way for road purposes. See 43 Tex. Jur.
3d Highways § 117, and authorities cited there. J. Sackman,
Nichols Law of Eminent Domain, at 5.45(3), states the law
thusly:
The trees and herbage in a public highway
are the property of the owner of the fee. He
has the right to use any portion of the way
not needed for public travel, for growing
grass, crops, or trees, either for their
produce or for improving the appearance and
enhancing the comfort of his premises. For
any injury to the trees and herbage that is
not the result of the proper exercise of the
highway easement he is entitled to compensa-
tion as fully as if the highway did not
: exist. The owner’s rights in the trees and
herbage are, however, like all his rights
within the limits of the way, subordinate to
the rights of the public. When the trees or
herbage interfere with the proper exercise of
the highway easement they must give way. For
this reason trees may be cut down or trimmed
in order to widen the wrought portion of the
highway, or to accommodate rails and wires
laid by public service corporations in the
highway, for any purpose which is classed as
within the highway easement, without compen-
sation to the owner of the fee.

As changing road and traffic conditions require, the
public right-of-way easement holder may, by widening the .
paved portion of the roadway or clearing a greater part of
the unpaved portion, make fuller utilization of its easement
rights. McCraw v. City of Dallas, 420 S.W.2d 793 (Tex. Civ. App. -

p. 6603
Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 5 (JM-1241)
1967, writ ref’d n.r.e.).2 In such cases, we think, activi-
ties by the fee holder in the right-of-way which had not
previously been inconsistent with the public’s use of it for
right-of-way purposes may over time come to interfere with
the paramount public use and have to give way. See Gilliland
and Holcomb, supra; see also Galveston H. & S.A. Ry. Co. v.
City of Eagle Pass, 249 S.W. 268 (Tex. Civ. App. - San
Antonio 1923), rev’d on other grounds, 260 S.W. 841 (Tex.
Comm’n App. 1924, judgm’t adopted) (plaintiff on notice that
city could, when need arose, have improvements plaintiff had
erected in public right-of-way removed, and he could not
recover therefor).
Your brief indicates a concern that even if the commis-
sioners court may have trees and shrubs in the right-of-way
removed, there would remain a legal question, for purposes
of the disposal, by sale or otherwise, of those materials,
as to where title in them lay -- i.e., whether the county’s
disposal of the materials might constitute a conversion, and
thus a taking, of private property for public purposes
without compensation in violation of article I, section 17,
of the Texas Constitution.
Holcomb, supra, specifically held that the destruction
of trees and shrubs in the right-of-way there involved no
unlawful taking under the constitution. Id. at 430. If the
public easement holder may, without compensating the fee
owner, destroy trees and shrubs in the right-of-way for -
right-of-way purposes, we see no reason why it may not
otherwise dispose of trees and shrubs that are removed
because they interfere with use of the right-of-way, even by
sale, without compensation. Though the fee owner may "own"
the trees and shrubs in the right-of-way, and presumably
himself have the right to transplant or cut them, if not in —
: 2. The point at which changing public utilization of
the right-of-way imposes burdens on the servient fee estate
in excess of the easement rights, thus entitling the fee
owner to additional compensation, would depend on the terms
of the particular easement, the nature of the change in use,
and local conditions. See, e.g., 31 Tex. Jur. 3d Easements
and Licenses in Real Property § 43, et seq.; see also Texas
Power & Light Co. v. Casey, 138 S.W.2d 594 (Tex. Civ. App. -
Fort Worth 1940, writ dism'd judgm’t cor.) (easement
holder’s liability for negligent cutting of trees not
necessary for easement purposes).
p. 6604

Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 6 (JM-1241)

violation of applicable ordinances or laws,3 his ownership
interest must give way when the trees or shrubs come to
constitute an impairment of the public authority’s proper
utilization of its right-of-way easement. See Sackman,
supra. He plants and grows trees or shrubs in the
right-of-way with notice that the public easement holder may
remove them when they come to constitute an impairment of
the easement.

It appears that some other jurisdictions have followed
a different rule. See Rummell v. Ohio Dep’t of Public
Transportation, 443 N.E.2d 1032 (Ohio Ct. App. 1981) (statute
authorizing director of transportation to "remove" trees
within right-of-way did not authorize director to "take"
such trees without compensation to fee owner). Sackman,
supra, in section 5.45(3) notes that "[i]t is held in some
jurisdictions that the public authorities may use the
vegetable growth for the purpose of repairing the
way .. . but when the vegetation is cut for any other
purpose it belongs to the owner of the fee. If he fails to
remove it within a reasonable time he may be held to have
abandoned it."

We do find Texas cases which suggest that a public
authority may use soil or gravel from a right-of-way ease-
ment only for improving that or other roadways. See, e.g.,
City of La Grange v. Brown, 161 S.W. 8 (Tex. Civ. App. -
Austin 1913, writ ref’d) (city may use soil excavated from a
street easement for improvement of other roads). In dicta,

3. We note that section 2.006 of article 6702-1
   authorizes the commissioners court to lay out "neighborhood
   roads" and provides for the payment of damages to the fee
   owners for the takings. The section further authorizes the
   commissioners court to direct that the fee owners clear
   obstructions from the right-of-way "for a space of not less
   than 15 feet or more than 30 feet on each side of a
   designated line" except that "the marked trees and other
   objects used to designate the line shall not be removed or
   defaced." We think this provision reflects the commis-
   sioners court’s control over trees in the right-of-way.
   (though we do not take the provision to indicate that if the
   commissioners court fails to order the clearance and later
   itself has it done, or later has a greater portion of the .
   right-of-way cleared, the fee owner is entitled to any
   further compensation).
   p. 6605
   Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 7 (JM-1241)
   the court in City of San Antonio v. Mullaly, 33 S.W. 256
   (Tex. Civ. App. - San Antonio 1895, no writ) noted that "if
   the city does not remove the soil for the purpose of filling
   in other streets, and the adjoining owner does not remove
   it, the city may sell and dispose of it in any way it may
   deem proper." (Emphasis added.)

We think the later Gilliland and Holcomb decisions,
however, indicate that a public authority may, in exercising
a right-of-way easement, remove trees and shrubs for road
purposes and dispose of them without compensation to the fee
owner. The supreme court expressly approved Gilliland, and
refused writ of error in Holcomb. We find no Texas cases
subsequent to the now almost 50-year-old Gilliland and
Holcomb cases which follow a different rule with regard to
compensation for removal of trees and shrubs from a public
right-of-way.

Your second question is:

If the county can sell trees from the
right-of-way, what procedure must be followed
in doing so?

Your brief indicates that your second question reflects
a concern as to whether the county’s sale of trees would be
governed by subchapter A of chapter 263 of the Local Govern-
ment Code, providing for the county’s sale or lease of real
property, or rather by subchapter D providing for the dis-
position of personal property falling within the definitions
of "salvage" or "surplus" property in section 263.151.
Though trees, while growing and unsevered are generally
considered “part of the land" -- see, e.g., Rogers v. Fort
Worth Poultry & Egg Co., 185 S.W.2d 165 (Tex. Civ. App. -
Fort Worth 1944, no writ) -- cut trees, or trees "construc-
tively severed" by selling them in the contemplation that
they will be cut and removed, are considered personal
property. See Davis v. Conn, 161 S.W. 39 (Tex. Civ. App. -
Texarkana 1913, writ dism'd); Downey v. Dowell, 207 S.W. 585
(Tex. Civ. App. - Texarkana 1918, writ dism'd).

Section 263.151 of subchapter D of chapter 263, Local

Government Code, providing for the county’s sale of “sal-
vage" or "surplus" property, defines such property as
follows:

(1) ‘Salvage property’ means personal
property, other than items routinely discard-
ed as waste, that because of use, time,
p. 6606

Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 8 (JM-1241)
accident, or any other cause is so worn,
damaged, or obsolete that it has no value for
the purpose for which it was originally
intended.

(2) ‘Surplus property’ means personal -
property that:
(A) is not salvage property or
items routinely discarded as waste;
(B) is not currently needed by its
owner;
(C) is not required for the owner’s ;
foreseeable needs; and
(D) possesses some usefulness for
the purpose for which it was intended.
We think that in the usual case, where trees or shrubs
originally intended for beautification, shade, or soil
conservation purposes are removed, or are to be removed, by

the county for right-of-way purposes, the trees or shrubs

would fall within the definitions of "salvage" or “surplus"

property in section 263.151, and the county’s disposition of

them by sale would be governed by subchapter D.

Your third question is:
Can the County refuse to approve subdivision
plats that have existing shrubs and trees in
the right of way, and/or plans to landscape
rights-of-way by planting shrubs and trees or
where an attempt has been made to reserve
rights to maintain such trees and shrubs in
the right-of-way?

You argue that certain provisions of the Harris County Road

Law, supra, would in effect permit the Harris County Commis-

sioners Court to refuse to approve a subdivision plat

purporting to reserve rights to maintain trees or shrubs in

a right-of-way dedicated therein. We agree. Section 1 of

the Harris County Road Law provides:
Section 31-C. In acquiring rights-of-way for
roads in Harris County, the Commissioners
Court shall determine the width of the
right-of-way required, and establish the
p. 6607
Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 9 (JM-1241)
lines and alignment of the road. All of the
field notes of roads so established and
determined shall be filed with the Commis-
sioners Court and be recorded on the Road Log
of Harris County, and no expenditures shall
be made by the Commissioners Court upon any
road not carried on the Road Log. The
Commissioners Court may adopt a system for
carrying roads on the Road Log with the
required width of the right-of-way to be
established by the Court. Provided, however,
no road shall be carried on the Road Log or
maintained by the county on a right-of-way
less than twenty (20) feet nor more than 600
feet in width unless the right-of-way was
laid out or established on or after January
1, 1963. No subdivision or plat of lands in
Harris County outside of incorporated cities
shall be filed for record by the County Clerk
of Harris County, Texas, until such plat or
subdivision bears the signature of the County
Engineer to the effect that the roads, as
indicated on the plat, have met the require-
ments of the system adopted by the Commis-
sioners Court pursuant to this Section as to
the width of the right-of-way and have a base
and surface of at least twenty (20) feet in
width with the base and-surface meeting the
minimum requirements prescribed by the
Commissioners Court by order duly entered in
the minutes of said court, and that all
requirements of Harris County and the Harris
County Flood Control District as to drainage
have been complied with. (Emphasis added.)
Special Law, Acts 1913, 33d Leg., ch. 17, amended by Acts
1963, 58th Leg., ch. 369, amended by Acts 1973, 63rd Leg.,
ch. 614.
We find no provision of Texas law specifically author-
izing the Harris County Commissioners Court to require that
rights-of-way be dedicated without reservation as to trees
and shrubs in the right-of-way. However, could it not
require that dedicated rights-of-way be unencumbered by
reservations with respect to trees and shrubs or other
obstructions, the county’s authority under the Harris County
Road Law to require that dedicated rights-of-way be of a
certain width would be rendered nugatory -- particularly as
the county’s authority to refuse to approve subdivision
p. 6608

Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 10 (JM-1241)
plats is otherwise quite limited. We find no provisions .
other than the width requirement provisions which would
appear to authorize the commissioners court to require that
dedicated rights-of-way be free of reservations which might
impair the use of the full width of the dedicated
right-of-way for right-of-way purposes. See Local Gov’t
Code §§ 232.002 ("commissioners court .. . must approve
plat" meeting requirements prescribed under chapter 232),
232.003, 232.006 (providing respectively that commissioners
courts generally, and in counties of over 2.2 million
population, may require that rights-of-way be of stated
widths, but making no provision with respect to trees and
shrubs or other potential obstructions in the rights-of-way
or purported reservations with respect thereto); see also
Attorney General Opinion JM-789 (1987) (limitations on
commissioners court’s authority to refuse to approve subdi-
vision plats). | .
We think that section 31-C of the Harris County Road
Law not only specifically authorizes the commissioners court
to require that a dedicated right-of-way be of a certain
width, but also implicitly authorizes the court to require
that the right-of-way dedicated be unencumbered by reserva-
tions of the right to maintain trees or shrubs in the
right-of-way which might impair its full utilization. As we
have determined that the Harris County Commissioners Court
possesses such authority under section 31-C of the Harris
County Road Law, we do not think it necessary to determine
here whether the above-cited provisions of chapter 232,
Local Government Code, would also confer such authority.
SUMMARY
Subject to the terms of the conveyance,
dedication, condemnation judgment, etc. under
which the right-of-way was acquired, the 7
‘Harris County Commissioners Court generally
has authority, for right-of-way purposes, to
remove and dispose. of trees or shrubs from
the public right-of-way easement of a county
road or prevent their planting without

• compensation to the fee owner.
  Cut trees, or trees “constructively
  severed" by having been sold in the anticipa-
  tion that they will be cut and removed from ;
  the land where they were growing, are person-
  al rather than real property.
  p. 6609

Honorable Mike Driscoll - Page 11 (JM-1241)

• The Harris County Commissioners Court may,
  under the Harris County Road Law, require
  that rights-of-way dedicated in subdivision
  plats be of certain widths, and unencumbered
  by reservations of the right to maintain
  trees or shrubs within the right-of-way area.
  Very truly yours,
  JIM MATTOX
  Attorney General of Texas
  MARY KELLER
  First Assistant Attorney General
  LOU MCCREARY
  Executive Assistant Attorney General
  JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY
  Special Assistant Attorney General
  RENEA HICKS
  Special Assistant Attorney General
  RICK GILPIN
  Chairman, Opinion Committee
  Prepared by William Walker
  Assistant Attorney General
  p. 6610