Meadow Development Attorneys Fire Back at Injunction, Attorney General Scrutiny

Dan Cogdell, a defense attorney for Community Capital Partners, had a direct message for Attorney General Ken Paxton after a Collin County judge froze the utility district tied to The Meadow project north of Josephine: "Ken, do better."

Cogdell, who also represents the developer behind the 402-acre planned community straddling the Collin-Hunt county line roughly 40 miles northeast of downtown Dallas, warned that Paxton's continued pressure could carry a steep legal price. "I get it. He's in a battle with Cornyn. I understand that," Cogdell said. "They are gonna walk right into a lawsuit if they keep this up."

The target of Paxton's latest action is Double R Municipal Utility District No. 2A of Hunt and Collin Counties, the entity formed to supply water, sewer and drainage services to The Meadow site. On March 31, Judge Christine A. Nowak of the 493rd Judicial District Court issued a temporary injunction freezing the district's operations, voiding all board decisions made after September 12, 2025, and nullifying every will-serve letter the district had issued. For anyone counting on water and sewer commitments before construction could begin, those assurances are now legally worthless. A bench trial is set for November 16.

Eric Hudson, Community Capital Partners' general counsel, challenged the state's framing of the injunction as a meaningful legal victory. "If the attorney came in and sued the roofer on a house that hadn't even poured the foundation yet, and then said, 'We stopped them from putting on the roof.' Well, sure you have, but we haven't even laid the foundation yet," Hudson said. He argued the injunction targets the MUD, not the developer. "We have a situation where the state has decided they are gonna pick on a particular religious group," he added.

Paxton's office has told a sharply different story. The attorney general alleges that at a September 12, 2025 meeting held at what his lawsuit describes as a desolate location identified only by GPS coordinates, the Double R MUD's original board resigned en masse and a new slate of directors immediately assumed control, then voted to annex the 402-acre site. The maneuver, Paxton argued, was engineered to bypass the formal Texas Commission on Environmental Quality review required to create a brand-new utility district. His office accused the board of orchestrating an "unlawful takeover" to help The Meadow "evade state oversight."

Judge Nowak's ruling found all parties admitted the current board was not properly qualified and cited a "probable right to relief" and imminent harm, stripping the directors of all governing authority until qualified replacements are appointed. Who controls the MUD next, and whether it can eventually deliver water and sewer service to The Meadow's planned 1,000-plus homes, K-12 school, mosque, apartments and retail space, remains unsettled.

The legal reverses are compounding on other fronts. Hunt County commissioners separately rejected The Meadow's preliminary plat, with county counsel Daniel Ray citing "technical, regulatory and legal deficiencies." Gov. Greg Abbott has directed four state agencies to investigate Community Capital Partners and affiliated entities. Cogdell's reference to the Cornyn primary race reflects the developers' central argument: that Paxton's aggressive posture is political positioning, not neutral enforcement.

With November 16 now the next concrete milestone for both sides, the 402-acre site north of Josephine will remain unbroken ground for months to come.