By Brimer                                              H.B. No. 645
       74R1948 PAM-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    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 the ability to approve:
    1-8              (1)  amending plats described by Section 212.016; or
    1-9              (2)  minor plats involving four or fewer lots fronting
   1-10  on an existing street and not requiring the creation of any new
   1-11  street or the extension of municipal facilities to an employee of
   1-12  the municipality.
   1-13        (b)  The designated employee may, for any reason, elect to
   1-14  present the plat to the municipal planning commission or governing
   1-15  body, or both, to approve the plat.
   1-16        (c)  The employee shall not disapprove the plat and shall be
   1-17  required to refer any plat which he refuses to approve to the
   1-18  municipal planning commission or governing body, or both, within
   1-19  the time period specified in Section 212.009.
   1-20        SECTION 2.  Section 212.016(a), Local Government Code, is
   1-21  amended to read as follows:
   1-22        (a)  The municipal authority responsible for approving plats
   1-23  may approve and issue an amending plat, which may be recorded and
   1-24  is controlling over the preceding plat without vacation of that
    2-1  plat, if the amending plat is signed by the applicants only and is
    2-2  solely for one or more of the following purposes:
    2-3              (1)  to correct an error in a course or distance shown
    2-4  on the preceding plat;
    2-5              (2)  to add a course or distance that was omitted on
    2-6  the preceding plat;
    2-7              (3)  to correct an error in a real property description
    2-8  shown on the preceding plat;
    2-9              (4)  to indicate monuments set after the death,
   2-10  disability, or retirement from practice of the engineer or surveyor
   2-11  responsible for setting monuments;
   2-12              (5)  to show the location or character of a monument
   2-13  that has been changed in location or character or that is shown
   2-14  incorrectly as to location or character on the preceding plat;
   2-15              (6)  to correct any other type of scrivener or clerical
   2-16  error or omission previously approved by the municipal authority
   2-17  responsible for approving plats, including lot numbers, acreage,
   2-18  street names, and identification of adjacent recorded plats;
   2-19              (7)  to correct an error in courses and distances of
   2-20  lot lines between two adjacent lots if:
   2-21                    (A)  both lot owners join in the application for
   2-22  amending the plat;
   2-23                    (B)  neither lot is abolished;
   2-24                    (C)  the amendment does not attempt to remove
   2-25  recorded covenants or restrictions; and
   2-26                    (D)  the amendment does not have a material
   2-27  adverse effect on the property rights of the other owners in the
    3-1  plat;
    3-2              (8)  to relocate a lot line to eliminate an inadvertent
    3-3  encroachment of a building or other improvement on a lot line or
    3-4  easement;
    3-5              (9)  to relocate one or more lot lines between one or
    3-6  more adjacent lots if:
    3-7                    (A)  the owners of all those lots join in the
    3-8  application for amending the plat;
    3-9                    (B)  the amendment does not attempt to remove
   3-10  recorded covenants or restrictions; and
   3-11                    (C)  the amendment does not increase the number
   3-12  of lots; <or>
   3-13              (10)  to make necessary changes to the preceding plat
   3-14  to create six or fewer lots in the subdivision or a part of the
   3-15  subdivision covered by the preceding plat if:
   3-16                    (A)  the changes do not affect applicable zoning
   3-17  and other regulations of the municipality;
   3-18                    (B)  the changes do not attempt to amend or
   3-19  remove any covenants or restrictions; and
   3-20                    (C)  the area covered by the changes is located
   3-21  in an area that the municipal planning commission or other
   3-22  appropriate governing body of the municipality has approved, after
   3-23  a public hearing, as a residential improvement area; or
   3-24              (11)  to replat one or more lots fronting on an
   3-25  existing street if:
   3-26                    (A)  the owners of all those lots join in the
   3-27  application for amending the plat;
    4-1                    (B)  the amendment does not attempt to remove
    4-2  recorded covenants or restrictions;
    4-3                    (C)  the amendment does not increase the number
    4-4  of lots; and
    4-5                    (D)  the amendment does not create or require the
    4-6  creation of a new street or make necessary the extension of
    4-7  municipal facilities.
    4-8        SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by Section 2 of this
    4-9  Act applies only to an amending plat submitted for approval on or
   4-10  after the effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this
   4-11  section, an amending plat is submitted for approval if a person has
   4-12  applied for approval under Section 212.008, Property Code.
   4-13        (b)  An amending plat submitted for approval before the
   4-14  effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect at the
   4-15  time the plat was filed, and the former law is continued in effect
   4-16  for that purpose.
   4-17        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   4-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   4-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   4-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   4-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   4-22  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   4-23  passage, and it is so enacted.