H.B. No. 496
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to platting requirements for certain municipalities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 212.004(a), Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) The owner of a tract of land located within the limits
1-7 or in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality who
1-8 divides the tract in two or more parts to lay out a subdivision of
1-9 the tract, including an addition to a municipality, <or> to lay out
1-10 suburban, building, or other lots, or <and> to lay out streets,
1-11 alleys, squares, parks, or other parts of the tract intended to be
1-12 dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners of
1-13 lots fronting on or adjacent to the streets, alleys, squares,
1-14 parks, or other parts must have a plat of the subdivision prepared.
1-15 A division of a tract under this subsection includes a division
1-16 regardless of whether it is made by using a metes and bounds
1-17 description in a deed of conveyance or in a contract for a deed, by
1-18 using a contract of sale or other executory contract to convey, or
1-19 by using any other method. A division of land under this
1-20 subsection does not include a division of land into parts greater
1-21 than five acres, where each part has access and no public
1-22 improvement is being dedicated.
1-23 SECTION 2. Section 212.005, Local Government Code, is
2-1 amended to read as follows:
2-2 Sec. 212.005. APPROVAL BY MUNICIPALITY REQUIRED. The
2-3 municipal authority responsible for approving plats must approve a
2-4 plat or replat that is required to be prepared under this
2-5 subchapter and that satisfies all applicable regulations.
2-6 SECTION 3. Sections 212.015(b) and (c), Local Government
2-7 Code, are amended to read as follows:
2-8 (b) Notice of the hearing required under Section 212.014
2-9 shall be given before the 15th day before the date of the hearing
2-10 by:
2-11 (1) publication in an official newspaper or a
2-12 newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the
2-13 municipality is located; and
2-14 (2) by written notice, with a copy of Subsection (c)
2-15 attached, forwarded by the municipal authority responsible for
2-16 approving plats to the owners of lots that are <property> in the
2-17 original subdivision and that are within 200 feet of the lots to be
2-18 replatted, as indicated on the most recently approved municipal tax
2-19 roll or in the case of a subdivision within the extraterritorial
2-20 jurisdiction, the most recently approved county tax roll <within
2-21 200 feet> of the property upon which the replat is requested. The
2-22 written notice may be delivered by depositing the notice, properly
2-23 addressed with postage prepaid, in a post office or postal
2-24 depository within the boundaries of the municipality.
2-25 (c) If the proposed replat requires a variance and is
3-1 protested in accordance with this subsection, the proposed replat
3-2 must receive, in order to be approved, the affirmative vote of at
3-3 least three-fourths of the <all> members present of the municipal
3-4 planning commission or governing body, or both. For a legal
3-5 protest, written instruments signed by the owners of at least 20
3-6 percent of the area of the lots or land immediately adjoining the
3-7 area covered by the proposed replat and extending 200 feet from
3-8 that area, but within the original subdivision, must be filed with
3-9 the municipal planning commission or governing body, or both, prior
3-10 to the close of the public hearing.
3-11 SECTION 4. Section 212.041, Local Government Code, is
3-12 amended to read as follows:
3-13 Sec. 212.041. MUNICIPALITY COVERED BY SUBCHAPTER. This
3-14 subchapter applies only to a <an unzoned> municipality <with a
3-15 population of more than 1.5 million> whose governing body chooses
3-16 by ordinance to be covered by this subchapter or chose by ordinance
3-17 to be covered by the law codified by this subchapter.
3-18 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-24 passage, and it is so enacted.