1-1 By: Brimer (Senate Sponsor - Harris) H.B. No. 645
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 10, 1995;
1-3 April 11, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; April 27, 1995, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 27, 1995, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to municipal approval of certain amending plats.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 212.0065, Local Government Code, is
1-12 amended to read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 212.0065. Delegation of Approval Responsibility.
1-14 (a) A municipality may delegate to an employee of the municipality
1-15 the ability to approve:
1-16 (1) amending plats described by Section 212.016; or
1-17 (2) minor plats involving four or fewer lots fronting
1-18 on an existing street and not requiring the creation of any new
1-19 street or the extension of municipal facilities <to an employee of
1-20 the municipality>.
1-21 (b) The designated employee may, for any reason, elect to
1-22 present the plat to the municipal planning commission or governing
1-23 body, or both, to approve the plat.
1-24 (c) The employee shall not disapprove the plat and shall be
1-25 required to refer any plat which he refuses to approve to the
1-26 municipal planning commission or governing body, or both, within
1-27 the time period specified in Section 212.009.
1-28 SECTION 2. Section 212.016(a), Local Government Code, is
1-29 amended to read as follows:
1-30 (a) The municipal authority responsible for approving plats
1-31 may approve and issue an amending plat, which may be recorded and
1-32 is controlling over the preceding plat without vacation of that
1-33 plat, if the amending plat is signed by the applicants only and is
1-34 solely for one or more of the following purposes:
1-35 (1) to correct an error in a course or distance shown
1-36 on the preceding plat;
1-37 (2) to add a course or distance that was omitted on
1-38 the preceding plat;
1-39 (3) to correct an error in a real property description
1-40 shown on the preceding plat;
1-41 (4) to indicate monuments set after the death,
1-42 disability, or retirement from practice of the engineer or surveyor
1-43 responsible for setting monuments;
1-44 (5) to show the location or character of a monument
1-45 that has been changed in location or character or that is shown
1-46 incorrectly as to location or character on the preceding plat;
1-47 (6) to correct any other type of scrivener or clerical
1-48 error or omission previously approved by the municipal authority
1-49 responsible for approving plats, including lot numbers, acreage,
1-50 street names, and identification of adjacent recorded plats;
1-51 (7) to correct an error in courses and distances of
1-52 lot lines between two adjacent lots if:
1-53 (A) both lot owners join in the application for
1-54 amending the plat;
1-55 (B) neither lot is abolished;
1-56 (C) the amendment does not attempt to remove
1-57 recorded covenants or restrictions; and
1-58 (D) the amendment does not have a material
1-59 adverse effect on the property rights of the other owners in the
1-60 plat;
1-61 (8) to relocate a lot line to eliminate an inadvertent
1-62 encroachment of a building or other improvement on a lot line or
1-63 easement;
1-64 (9) to relocate one or more lot lines between one or
1-65 more adjacent lots if:
1-66 (A) the owners of all those lots join in the
1-67 application for amending the plat;
1-68 (B) the amendment does not attempt to remove
2-1 recorded covenants or restrictions; and
2-2 (C) the amendment does not increase the number
2-3 of lots; <or>
2-4 (10) to make necessary changes to the preceding plat
2-5 to create six or fewer lots in the subdivision or a part of the
2-6 subdivision covered by the preceding plat if:
2-7 (A) the changes do not affect applicable zoning
2-8 and other regulations of the municipality;
2-9 (B) the changes do not attempt to amend or
2-10 remove any covenants or restrictions; and
2-11 (C) the area covered by the changes is located
2-12 in an area that the municipal planning commission or other
2-13 appropriate governing body of the municipality has approved, after
2-14 a public hearing, as a residential improvement area; or
2-15 (11) to replat one or more lots fronting on an
2-16 existing street if:
2-17 (A) the owners of all those lots join in the
2-18 application for amending the plat;
2-19 (B) the amendment does not attempt to remove
2-20 recorded covenants or restrictions;
2-21 (C) the amendment does not increase the number
2-22 of lots; and
2-23 (D) the amendment does not create or require the
2-24 creation of a new street or make necessary the extension of
2-25 municipal facilities.
2-26 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by Section 2 of this
2-27 Act applies only to an amending plat submitted for approval on or
2-28 after the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this
2-29 section, an amending plat is submitted for approval if a person has
2-30 applied for approval under Section 212.008, Local Government Code.
2-31 (b) An amending plat submitted for approval before the
2-32 effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect at the
2-33 time the plat was filed, and the former law is continued in effect
2-34 for that purpose.
2-35 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-36 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-37 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-38 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-39 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-40 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-41 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-42 * * * * *