By Wentworth S.B. No. 312
74R3611 PAM-D
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) The owner of a tract of land located outside the limits
1-7 of a municipality who divides the tract into two or more parts to
1-8 lay out a subdivision of the tract, including an addition, <or> to
1-9 lay out suburban lots or building lots, or <and> to lay out
1-10 streets, alleys, squares, parks, or other parts of the tract
1-11 intended to be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers
1-12 or owners of lots fronting on or adjacent to the streets, alleys,
1-13 squares, parks, or other parts must have a plat of the subdivision
1-14 prepared. A division of a tract under this subsection includes a
1-15 division regardless of whether it is made by using a metes and
1-16 bounds description in a deed of conveyance or in a contract for a
1-17 deed, by using a contract of sale or other executory contract to
1-18 convey, or by using any other method.
1-19 (b) To be recorded, the plat must:
1-20 (1) describe the subdivision by metes and bounds;
1-21 (2) locate the subdivision with respect to an original
1-22 corner of the original survey of which it is a part; <and>
1-23 (3) state the dimensions of the subdivision; and
1-24 (4) if applicable, state the dimensions of each lot,
2-1 street, alley, square, park, or other part of the tract intended to
2-2 be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners
2-3 of lots fronting on or adjacent to the street, alley, square, park,
2-4 or other part.
2-5 SECTION 2. Section 232.008(b), Local Government Code, is
2-6 amended to read as follows:
2-7 (b) A person owning real property in this state that has
2-8 been subdivided into lots and blocks or into small subdivisions may
2-9 apply to the commissioners court of the county in which the
2-10 property is located for permission to cancel all or part of the
2-11 subdivision, including a dedicated easement or roadway, to
2-12 reestablish the property as acreage tracts as it existed before the
2-13 subdivision. If, on the application, it is shown that the
2-14 cancellation of all or part of the subdivision does not interfere
2-15 with the established rights of any purchaser who owns any part of
2-16 the subdivision, or it is shown that the purchaser agrees to the
2-17 cancellation, the commissioners court by order may <shall>
2-18 authorize the owner of the subdivision to file an instrument
2-19 canceling the subdivision in whole or in part. The instrument must
2-20 describe the subdivision or the part of it that is canceled. The
2-21 court shall enter the order in its minutes. After the cancellation
2-22 instrument is filed and recorded in the deed records of the county,
2-23 the county tax assessor-collector shall assess the property as if
2-24 it had never been subdivided.
2-25 SECTION 3. Section 232.009, Local Government Code, is
2-26 amended to read as follows:
2-27 Sec. 232.009. Revision of Plat. (a) <This section applies
3-1 only to real property located outside municipalities and the
3-2 extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities with a population
3-3 of 1.5 million or more, as determined under Chapter 42.>
3-4 <(b)> A person who has subdivided land that is subject to
3-5 the subdivision controls of the county in which the land is located
3-6 may apply in writing to the commissioners court of the county for
3-7 permission to revise the subdivision plat filed for record with the
3-8 county clerk.
3-9 (b) <(c)> After the application is filed with the
3-10 commissioners court, the court shall publish a notice of the
3-11 application in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
3-12 The notice must include a statement of the time and place at which
3-13 the court will meet to consider the application and to hear
3-14 protests to the revision of the plat. The notice must be published
3-15 at least three times during the period that begins on the 30th day
3-16 and ends on the seventh day before the date of the meeting. If all
3-17 or part of the subdivided tract has been sold to nondeveloper
3-18 owners, the court shall also give notice to each of those owners by
3-19 certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, at the
3-20 owner's address in the subdivided tract.
3-21 (c) The commissioners court is not required under Subsection
3-22 (b) to publish a notice of an application or give notice to
3-23 nondeveloper owners if:
3-24 (1) the proposed revision of the subdivision plat
3-25 combines or reconfigures tracts; and
3-26 (2) the resulting tracts are larger than the original
3-27 tracts.
4-1 (d) During a regular term of the commissioners court, the
4-2 court shall adopt an order to permit the revision of the
4-3 subdivision plat if it is shown to the court that:
4-4 (1) the revision will not interfere with the
4-5 established rights of any owner of a part of the subdivided land;
4-6 or
4-7 (2) each owner whose rights may be interfered with has
4-8 agreed to the revision.
4-9 (e) If the commissioners court permits a person to revise a
4-10 subdivision plat, the person may make the revision by filing for
4-11 record with the county clerk a revised plat or part of a plat that
4-12 indicates the changes made to the original plat.
4-13 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-14 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.