By: Wentworth S.B. No. 312
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to county regulation of subdivisions.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 232.001, Local
1-4 Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-5 (a) The owner of a tract of land located outside the limits
1-6 of a municipality who divides the tract into two or more parts to
1-7 lay out a subdivision of the tract, including an addition, <or> to
1-8 lay out suburban lots or building lots, or <and> to lay out
1-9 streets, alleys, squares, parks, or other parts of the tract
1-10 intended to be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers
1-11 or owners of lots fronting on or adjacent to the streets, alleys,
1-12 squares, parks, or other parts must have a plat of the subdivision
1-13 prepared. A division of a tract under this subsection includes a
1-14 division regardless of whether it is made by using a metes and
1-15 bounds description in a deed of conveyance or in a contract for a
1-16 deed, by using a contract of sale or other executory contract to
1-17 convey, or by using any other method.
1-18 (b) To be recorded, the plat must:
1-19 (1) describe the subdivision by metes and bounds;
1-20 (2) locate the subdivision with respect to an original
1-21 corner of the original survey of which it is a part; <and>
1-22 (3) state the dimensions of the subdivision; and
1-23 (4) if applicable, state the dimensions of each lot,
1-24 street, alley, square, park, or other part of the tract intended to
2-1 be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners
2-2 of lots fronting on or adjacent to the street, alley, square, park,
2-3 or other part.
2-4 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 232.008, Local Government
2-5 Code, is amended to read as follows:
2-6 (b) A person owning real property in this state that has
2-7 been subdivided into lots and blocks or into small subdivisions may
2-8 apply to the commissioners court of the county in which the
2-9 property is located for permission to cancel all or part of the
2-10 subdivision, including a dedicated easement or roadway, to
2-11 reestablish the property as acreage tracts as it existed before the
2-12 subdivision. If, on the application, it is shown that the
2-13 cancellation of all or part of the subdivision does not interfere
2-14 with the established rights of any purchaser who owns any part of
2-15 the subdivision, or it is shown that the purchaser agrees to the
2-16 cancellation, the commissioners court by order may <shall>
2-17 authorize the owner of the subdivision to file an instrument
2-18 canceling the subdivision in whole or in part. The instrument must
2-19 describe the subdivision or the part of it that is canceled. The
2-20 court shall enter the order in its minutes. After the cancellation
2-21 instrument is filed and recorded in the deed records of the county,
2-22 the county tax assessor-collector shall assess the property as if
2-23 it had never been subdivided.
2-24 SECTION 3. Section 232.009, Local Government Code, is
2-25 amended to read as follows:
2-26 Sec. 232.009. Revision of Plat. (a) <This section applies
2-27 only to real property located outside municipalities and the
3-1 extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities with a population
3-2 of 1.5 million or more, as determined under Chapter 42.>
3-3 <(b)> A person who has subdivided land that is subject to
3-4 the subdivision controls of the county in which the land is located
3-5 may apply in writing to the commissioners court of the county for
3-6 permission to revise the subdivision plat filed for record with the
3-7 county clerk.
3-8 (b) <(c)> After the application is filed with the
3-9 commissioners court, the court shall publish a notice of the
3-10 application in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
3-11 The notice must include a statement of the time and place at which
3-12 the court will meet to consider the application and to hear
3-13 protests to the revision of the plat. The notice must be published
3-14 at least three times during the period that begins on the 30th day
3-15 and ends on the seventh day before the date of the meeting. If all
3-16 or part of the subdivided tract has been sold to nondeveloper
3-17 owners, the court shall also give notice to each of those owners by
3-18 certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, at the
3-19 owner's address in the subdivided tract.
3-20 (c) The commissioners court is not required under Subsection
3-21 (b) to publish a notice of an application or give notice to
3-22 nondeveloper owners if:
3-23 (1) the proposed revision of the subdivision plat
3-24 combines or reconfigures tracts; and
3-25 (2) the resulting tracts are larger than the original
3-26 tracts.
3-27 (d) During a regular term of the commissioners court, the
4-1 court shall adopt an order to permit the revision of the
4-2 subdivision plat if it is shown to the court that:
4-3 (1) the revision will not interfere with the
4-4 established rights of any owner of a part of the subdivided land;
4-5 or
4-6 (2) each owner whose rights may be interfered with has
4-7 agreed to the revision.
4-8 (e) If the commissioners court permits a person to revise a
4-9 subdivision plat, the person may make the revision by filing for
4-10 record with the county clerk a revised plat or part of a plat that
4-11 indicates the changes made to the original plat.
4-12 SECTION 4. Section 232.007, Local Government Code, is
4-13 amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
4-14 (c) If spaces or lots for the installation of manufactured
4-15 homes are contracted for sale, sold, or rented, leased, or offered
4-16 for rent or lease for a term of 60 months or more, or if a
4-17 lease-purchase option is offered, the tract is a subdivision and is
4-18 subject to regulation under this chapter.
4-19 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-20 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.