Easement on Down the Road: Court Rules For City in Case Involving Many Bold-Faced Names

Windle Turley

​Been trying to get more info from the city concerning what, exactly, this just-handed-down ruling from the Fifth District Court of Appeals of Texas means. But, in short, it appears that a lengthy legal battle concerning a small slice o' street off Inwood Road and Walnut Hill Lane has come, for now, to an end with the city claiming victory over the likes of attorney Windle Turley and philanthropists Steve and Carol Aaron.

The tussle is over what's known as the Ravine Drive extension, which runs behind the Turleys and Aarons' respective homes. According to the Judge Elizabeth Lang-Miers's ruling, the couples "fenced off, landscaped, improved, and maintained" that floodway easement and council-approved right-of-way as part of their respective properties. Richard and Nona Barrett -- for whom there's a collection named at the Meadows Museum -- want to access their property from that fenced-off easement and put in a storm water pipe that would cross their neighbors' property and dump into a creek within the floodway easement on the property of none other than former Hunt Oil man Mack "B.M." Rankin and wife Ashley.

The Aarons, Turleys and Rankins filed suit to keep the Barretts and the city from opening up the gated easement. To which the court just said: Nuh-unh. And while there are other smaller claims pending, one source at City Hall says the defendants' suit is "on life support."