1-1 By: Wentworth S.B. No. 312
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 24, 1995; January 25, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
1-4 Relations; February 22, 1995, reported favorably, as amended, by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 2; February 22, 1995, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 By: Wentworth
1-8 Amend S.B. 312 by inserting a new Section 4 in the bill to read as
1-9 follows and by renumbering the existing Section 4 and subsequent
1-10 sections accordingly:
1-11 SECTION 4. Section 232.007, Local Government Code, is
1-12 repealed.
1-13 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-14 AN ACT
1-15 relating to county regulation of subdivisions.
1-16 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-17 SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 232.001, Local
1-18 Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-19 (a) The owner of a tract of land located outside the limits
1-20 of a municipality who divides the tract into two or more parts to
1-21 lay out a subdivision of the tract, including an addition, <or> to
1-22 lay out suburban lots or building lots, or <and> to lay out
1-23 streets, alleys, squares, parks, or other parts of the tract
1-24 intended to be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers
1-25 or owners of lots fronting on or adjacent to the streets, alleys,
1-26 squares, parks, or other parts must have a plat of the subdivision
1-27 prepared. A division of a tract under this subsection includes a
1-28 division regardless of whether it is made by using a metes and
1-29 bounds description in a deed of conveyance or in a contract for a
1-30 deed, by using a contract of sale or other executory contract to
1-31 convey, or by using any other method.
1-32 (b) To be recorded, the plat must:
1-33 (1) describe the subdivision by metes and bounds;
1-34 (2) locate the subdivision with respect to an original
1-35 corner of the original survey of which it is a part; <and>
1-36 (3) state the dimensions of the subdivision; and
1-37 (4) if applicable, state the dimensions of each lot,
1-38 street, alley, square, park, or other part of the tract intended to
1-39 be dedicated to public use or for the use of purchasers or owners
1-40 of lots fronting on or adjacent to the street, alley, square, park,
1-41 or other part.
1-42 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 232.008, Local Government
1-43 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-44 (b) A person owning real property in this state that has
1-45 been subdivided into lots and blocks or into small subdivisions may
1-46 apply to the commissioners court of the county in which the
1-47 property is located for permission to cancel all or part of the
1-48 subdivision, including a dedicated easement or roadway, to
1-49 reestablish the property as acreage tracts as it existed before the
1-50 subdivision. If, on the application, it is shown that the
1-51 cancellation of all or part of the subdivision does not interfere
1-52 with the established rights of any purchaser who owns any part of
1-53 the subdivision, or it is shown that the purchaser agrees to the
1-54 cancellation, the commissioners court by order may <shall>
1-55 authorize the owner of the subdivision to file an instrument
1-56 canceling the subdivision in whole or in part. The instrument must
1-57 describe the subdivision or the part of it that is canceled. The
1-58 court shall enter the order in its minutes. After the cancellation
1-59 instrument is filed and recorded in the deed records of the county,
1-60 the county tax assessor-collector shall assess the property as if
1-61 it had never been subdivided.
1-62 SECTION 3. Section 232.009, Local Government Code, is
1-63 amended to read as follows:
1-64 Sec. 232.009. Revision of Plat. (a) <This section applies
1-65 only to real property located outside municipalities and the
1-66 extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities with a population
1-67 of 1.5 million or more, as determined under Chapter 42.>
1-68 <(b)> A person who has subdivided land that is subject to
2-1 the subdivision controls of the county in which the land is located
2-2 may apply in writing to the commissioners court of the county for
2-3 permission to revise the subdivision plat filed for record with the
2-4 county clerk.
2-5 (b) <(c)> After the application is filed with the
2-6 commissioners court, the court shall publish a notice of the
2-7 application in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
2-8 The notice must include a statement of the time and place at which
2-9 the court will meet to consider the application and to hear
2-10 protests to the revision of the plat. The notice must be published
2-11 at least three times during the period that begins on the 30th day
2-12 and ends on the seventh day before the date of the meeting. If all
2-13 or part of the subdivided tract has been sold to nondeveloper
2-14 owners, the court shall also give notice to each of those owners by
2-15 certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, at the
2-16 owner's address in the subdivided tract.
2-17 (c) The commissioners court is not required under Subsection
2-18 (b) to publish a notice of an application or give notice to
2-19 nondeveloper owners if:
2-20 (1) the proposed revision of the subdivision plat
2-21 combines or reconfigures tracts; and
2-22 (2) the resulting tracts are larger than the original
2-23 tracts.
2-24 (d) During a regular term of the commissioners court, the
2-25 court shall adopt an order to permit the revision of the
2-26 subdivision plat if it is shown to the court that:
2-27 (1) the revision will not interfere with the
2-28 established rights of any owner of a part of the subdivided land;
2-29 or
2-30 (2) each owner whose rights may be interfered with has
2-31 agreed to the revision.
2-32 (e) If the commissioners court permits a person to revise a
2-33 subdivision plat, the person may make the revision by filing for
2-34 record with the county clerk a revised plat or part of a plat that
2-35 indicates the changes made to the original plat.
2-36 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-37 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-38 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-39 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-40 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-41 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-42 * * * * *