H.B. No. 645
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to municipal approval of certain amending plats.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 212.0065, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 212.0065. Delegation of Approval Responsibility.
1-7 (a) A municipality may delegate to an employee of the municipality
1-8 the ability to approve:
1-9 (1) amending plats described by Section 212.016; or
1-10 (2) minor plats involving four or fewer lots fronting
1-11 on an existing street and not requiring the creation of any new
1-12 street or the extension of municipal facilities <to an employee of
1-13 the municipality>.
1-14 (b) The designated employee may, for any reason, elect to
1-15 present the plat to the municipal planning commission or governing
1-16 body, or both, to approve the plat.
1-17 (c) The employee shall not disapprove the plat and shall be
1-18 required to refer any plat which he refuses to approve to the
1-19 municipal planning commission or governing body, or both, within
1-20 the time period specified in Section 212.009.
1-21 SECTION 2. Section 212.016(a), Local Government Code, is
1-22 amended to read as follows:
1-23 (a) The municipal authority responsible for approving plats
1-24 may approve and issue an amending plat, which may be recorded and
2-1 is controlling over the preceding plat without vacation of that
2-2 plat, if the amending plat is signed by the applicants only and is
2-3 solely for one or more of the following purposes:
2-4 (1) to correct an error in a course or distance shown
2-5 on the preceding plat;
2-6 (2) to add a course or distance that was omitted on
2-7 the preceding plat;
2-8 (3) to correct an error in a real property description
2-9 shown on the preceding plat;
2-10 (4) to indicate monuments set after the death,
2-11 disability, or retirement from practice of the engineer or surveyor
2-12 responsible for setting monuments;
2-13 (5) to show the location or character of a monument
2-14 that has been changed in location or character or that is shown
2-15 incorrectly as to location or character on the preceding plat;
2-16 (6) to correct any other type of scrivener or clerical
2-17 error or omission previously approved by the municipal authority
2-18 responsible for approving plats, including lot numbers, acreage,
2-19 street names, and identification of adjacent recorded plats;
2-20 (7) to correct an error in courses and distances of
2-21 lot lines between two adjacent lots if:
2-22 (A) both lot owners join in the application for
2-23 amending the plat;
2-24 (B) neither lot is abolished;
2-25 (C) the amendment does not attempt to remove
2-26 recorded covenants or restrictions; and
2-27 (D) the amendment does not have a material
3-1 adverse effect on the property rights of the other owners in the
3-2 plat;
3-3 (8) to relocate a lot line to eliminate an inadvertent
3-4 encroachment of a building or other improvement on a lot line or
3-5 easement;
3-6 (9) to relocate one or more lot lines between one or
3-7 more adjacent lots if:
3-8 (A) the owners of all those lots join in the
3-9 application for amending the plat;
3-10 (B) the amendment does not attempt to remove
3-11 recorded covenants or restrictions; and
3-12 (C) the amendment does not increase the number
3-13 of lots; <or>
3-14 (10) to make necessary changes to the preceding plat
3-15 to create six or fewer lots in the subdivision or a part of the
3-16 subdivision covered by the preceding plat if:
3-17 (A) the changes do not affect applicable zoning
3-18 and other regulations of the municipality;
3-19 (B) the changes do not attempt to amend or
3-20 remove any covenants or restrictions; and
3-21 (C) the area covered by the changes is located
3-22 in an area that the municipal planning commission or other
3-23 appropriate governing body of the municipality has approved, after
3-24 a public hearing, as a residential improvement area; or
3-25 (11) to replat one or more lots fronting on an
3-26 existing street if:
3-27 (A) the owners of all those lots join in the
4-1 application for amending the plat;
4-2 (B) the amendment does not attempt to remove
4-3 recorded covenants or restrictions;
4-4 (C) the amendment does not increase the number
4-5 of lots; and
4-6 (D) the amendment does not create or require the
4-7 creation of a new street or make necessary the extension of
4-8 municipal facilities.
4-9 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by Section 2 of this
4-10 Act applies only to an amending plat submitted for approval on or
4-11 after the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this
4-12 section, an amending plat is submitted for approval if a person has
4-13 applied for approval under Section 212.008, Local Government Code.
4-14 (b) An amending plat submitted for approval before the
4-15 effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect at the
4-16 time the plat was filed, and the former law is continued in effect
4-17 for that purpose.
4-18 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-24 passage, and it is so enacted.