By: Cyrier (Senate Sponsor - Buckingham) H.B. No. 1475

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2021; May 10, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Local Government; May 22, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 22, 2021, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to municipal board of adjustment zoning variances based on unnecessary hardship.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 211.009, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:

(b-1) In exercising its authority under Subsection (a)(3), the board may consider the following as grounds to determine whether compliance with the ordinance as applied to a structure that is the subject of the appeal would result in unnecessary hardship:

(1) the financial cost of compliance is greater than 50 percent of the appraised value of the structure as shown on the most recent appraisal roll certified to the assessor for the municipality under Section 26.01, Tax Code;

(2) compliance would result in a loss to the lot on which the structure is located of at least 25 percent of the area on which development may physically occur;

(3) compliance would result in the structure not being in compliance with a requirement of a municipal ordinance, building code, or other requirement;

(4) compliance would result in the unreasonable encroachment on an adjacent property or easement; or

(5) the municipality considers the structure to be a nonconforming structure.

SECTION 2. Section 211.009(b-1), Local Government Code, as added by this Act, applies only to an appeal filed with a municipal board of adjustment on or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.

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