By Wentworth S.B. No. 312
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 312:
By Saunders C.S.S.B. No. 312
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to county regulation of subdivisions.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 232.001(a) and (b), Local Government
1-5 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) Except as provided by Section 232.0011, the <The> owner
1-7 of a tract of land located outside the limits of a municipality who
1-8 divides the tract into two or more parts to lay out a subdivision
1-9 of the tract, including an addition, or to lay out suburban lots or
1-10 building lots, and to lay out streets, alleys, squares, parks, or
1-11 other parts of the tract intended to be dedicated to public use or
1-12 for the use of purchasers or owners of lots fronting on or adjacent
1-13 to the streets, alleys, squares, parks, or other parts must have a
1-14 plat of the subdivision prepared. A division of a tract under this
1-15 subsection includes a division regardless of whether it is made by
1-16 using a metes and bounds description in a deed of conveyance or in
1-17 a contract for a deed, by using a contract of sale or other
1-18 executory contract to convey, or by using any other method.
1-19 (b) Except as provided by Section 232.0011, to <To> be
1-20 recorded, the plat must:
1-21 (1) describe the subdivision by metes and bounds;
1-22 (2) locate the subdivision with respect to an original
1-23 corner of the original survey of which it is a part; and
1-24 (3) state the dimensions of the subdivision and of
2-1 each lot, street, alley, square, park, or other part of the tract
2-2 intended to be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers
2-3 or owners of lots fronting on or adjacent to the street, alley,
2-4 square, park, or other part.
2-5 SECTION 2. Chapter 232, Local Government Code, is amended by
2-6 adding Section 232.0011 to read as follows:
2-7 Sec. 232.0011. CERTAIN MODIFIED PLAT REQUIREMENTS IN CERTAIN
2-8 COUNTIES. (a) This section applies only to a county with a
2-9 population of 75,000 or less.
2-10 (b) The owner of a tract of land located outside the limits
2-11 of a municipality who divides the tract into two or more parts to
2-12 lay out a subdivision of the tract, including an addition, to lay
2-13 out suburban lots or building lots, or to lay out streets, alleys,
2-14 squares, parks, or other parts of the tract intended to be
2-15 dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners of
2-16 lots fronting on or adjacent to the streets, alleys, squares,
2-17 parks, or other parts must have a plat of the subdivision prepared.
2-18 A division of a tract under this subsection includes a division
2-19 regardless of whether it is made by using a metes and bounds
2-20 description in a deed of conveyance or in a contract for a deed, by
2-21 using a contract of sale or other executory contract to convey, or
2-22 by using any other method.
2-23 (c) To be recorded, the plat must:
2-24 (1) describe the subdivision by metes and bounds;
2-25 (2) locate the subdivision with respect to an original
2-26 corner of the original survey of which it is a part;
2-27 (3) state the dimensions of the subdivision; and
3-1 (4) if applicable, state the dimensions of each lot,
3-2 street, alley, square, park, or other part of the tract intended to
3-3 be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners
3-4 of lots fronting on or adjacent to the street, alley, square, park,
3-5 or other part.
3-6 SECTION 3. Section 232.007, Local Government Code, is
3-7 amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
3-8 (c) If a plot or tract of land is separated into two or more
3-9 spaces or lots for the installation of manufactured homes and the
3-10 spaces or lots are contracted for sale, sold, or rented, leased or
3-11 offered for rent or lease for a term of 60 months or more, or if a
3-12 lease-purchase option is offered, the plot or tract is a
3-13 subdivision and is subject to regulation under this chapter.
3-14 SECTION 4. Section 232.008(b), Local Government Code, is
3-15 amended to read as follows:
3-16 (b) A person owning real property in this state that has
3-17 been subdivided into lots and blocks or into small subdivisions may
3-18 apply to the commissioners court of the county in which the
3-19 property is located for permission to cancel all or part of the
3-20 subdivision, including a dedicated easement or roadway, to
3-21 reestablish the property as acreage tracts as it existed before the
3-22 subdivision. If, on the application, it is shown that the
3-23 cancellation of all or part of the subdivision does not interfere
3-24 with the established rights of any purchaser who owns any part of
3-25 the subdivision, or it is shown that the purchaser agrees to the
3-26 cancellation, the commissioners court by order may <shall>
3-27 authorize the owner of the subdivision to file an instrument
4-1 canceling the subdivision in whole or in part. The instrument must
4-2 describe the subdivision or the part of it that is canceled. The
4-3 court shall enter the order in its minutes. After the cancellation
4-4 instrument is filed and recorded in the deed records of the county,
4-5 the county tax assessor-collector shall assess the property as if
4-6 it had never been subdivided.
4-7 SECTION 5. Section 232.009, Local Government Code, is
4-8 amended to read as follows:
4-9 Sec. 232.009. REVISION OF PLAT. (a) <This section applies
4-10 only to real property located outside municipalities and the
4-11 extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities with a population
4-12 of 1.5 million or more, as determined under Chapter 42.>
4-13 <(b)> A person who has subdivided land that is subject to
4-14 the subdivision controls of the county in which the land is located
4-15 may apply in writing to the commissioners court of the county for
4-16 permission to revise the subdivision plat filed for record with the
4-17 county clerk.
4-18 (b) Except as provided by Subsection (c) <After the
4-19 application is filed with the commissioners court>, the court shall
4-20 publish a notice of the application in a newspaper of general
4-21 circulation in the county after the application is filed with the
4-22 commissioners court. The notice must include a statement of the
4-23 time and place at which the court will meet to consider the
4-24 application and to hear protests to the revision of the plat. The
4-25 notice must be published at least three times during the period
4-26 that begins on the 30th day and ends on the seventh day before the
4-27 date of the meeting. If all or part of the subdivided tract has
5-1 been sold to nondeveloper owners, the court shall also give notice
5-2 to each of those owners by certified or registered mail, return
5-3 receipt requested, at the owner's address in the subdivided tract.
5-4 (c) The commissioners court is not required to publish a
5-5 notice of an application or give notice to nondeveloper owners if:
5-6 (1) the proposed revision of the subdivision plat
5-7 combines or reconfigures tracts; and
5-8 (2) the resulting tracts are larger than the original
5-9 tracts.
5-10 (d) During a regular term of the commissioners court, the
5-11 court shall adopt an order to permit the revision of the
5-12 subdivision plat if it is shown to the court that:
5-13 (1) the revision will not interfere with the
5-14 established rights of any owner of a part of the subdivided land;
5-15 or
5-16 (2) each owner whose rights may be interfered with has
5-17 agreed to the revision.
5-18 (e) If the commissioners court permits a person to revise a
5-19 subdivision plat, the person may make the revision by filing for
5-20 record with the county clerk a revised plat or part of a plat that
5-21 indicates the changes made to the original plat.
5-22 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
5-23 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
5-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.