1-1     By:  Zaffirini                                        S.B. No. 1410
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Special Committee on Border Affairs;
 1-4     April 9, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 9, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1410               By:  Zaffirini
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to authorizing the commissioners courts in economically
1-11     distressed counties to grant delays and variances from certain
1-12     platting requirements.
1-13           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 232.030, Local Government
1-15     Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-16           (b)  Except as provided by Section 16.350(d), Water Code, or
1-17     Section 232.042 or 232.043, the commissioners court may not grant a
1-18     variance or adopt regulations that waive any requirements of this
1-19     subchapter.
1-20           SECTION 2.  The heading to Section 232.042, Local Government
1-21     Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-22           Sec. 232.042.  VARIANCES FROM REPLATTING REQUIREMENTS.
1-23           SECTION 3.  Subchapter B, Chapter 232, Local Government Code,
1-24     is amended by adding Section 232.043 to read as follows:
1-25           Sec. 232.043.  VARIANCES FROM PLATTING REQUIREMENTS.  (a)  On
1-26     the request of a subdivider who created an unplatted subdivision or
1-27     a resident purchaser of a lot in the subdivision, the commissioners
1-28     court of a county may grant:
1-29                 (1)  a delay or variance from compliance with the
1-30     subdivision requirements prescribed by Section 232.023(b)(8) or
1-31     (9), 232.025(1), (2), (3), (4), or (5), or 232.030(c)(2), (3), (5),
1-32     or (6); or
1-33                 (2)  a delay or variance for an individual lot from
1-34     compliance with the requirements prescribed by the model
1-35     subdivision rules adopted under Section 16.343, Water Code, for:
1-36                       (A)  the distance that a structure must be set
1-37     back from roads or property lines; or
1-38                       (B)  the number of single-family, detached
1-39     dwellings that may be located on a lot.
1-40           (b)  If the commissioners court makes a written finding that
1-41     the subdivider who created the unplatted subdivision no longer owns
1-42     property in the subdivision, the commissioners court may grant a
1-43     delay or variance under this section only if:
1-44                 (1)  a majority of the lots in the subdivision were
1-45     sold before September 1, 1995;
1-46                 (2)  a majority of the resident purchasers in the
1-47     subdivision sign a petition supporting the delay or variance;
1-48                 (3)  the person requesting the delay or variance
1-49     submits to the commissioners court:
1-50                       (A)  a description of the water and sewer service
1-51     facilities that will be constructed or installed to service the
1-52     subdivision;
1-53                       (B)  a statement specifying the date by which the
1-54     water and sewer service facilities will be fully operational; and
1-55                       (C)  a statement signed by an engineer licensed
1-56     in this state certifying that the plans for the water and sewer
1-57     service facilities meet the minimum state standards;
1-58                 (4)  the commissioners court finds that the unplatted
1-59     subdivision at the time the delay or variance is requested is
1-60     developed in a manner and to an extent that compliance with
1-61     specific platting requirements is impractical or contrary to the
1-62     health or safety of the residents of the subdivision; and
1-63                 (5)  the subdivider who created the unplatted
1-64     subdivision has not violated local law, federal law, or state law,
 2-1     excluding this chapter, in subdividing the land for which the delay
 2-2     or variance is requested, if the subdivider is the person
 2-3     requesting the delay or variance.
 2-4           (c)  If the commissioners court makes a written finding that
 2-5     the subdivider who created the unplatted subdivision owns property
 2-6     in the subdivision, the commissioners court may grant a provisional
 2-7     delay or variance only if the requirements of Subsection (b) are
 2-8     satisfied.  The commissioners court may issue a final grant of the
 2-9     delay or variance only if, before the 91st day after the date the
2-10     commissioners court submits the record of its proceedings to the
2-11     attorney general as prescribed by Subsection (d), the commissioners
2-12     court:
2-13                 (1)  has not received objections from the attorney
2-14     general; and
2-15                 (2)  has filed a lien on the property in the
2-16     subdivision owned by the subdivider, excluding property subject to
2-17     a contract of sale or contract for deed, to recover the value of
2-18     platting the subdivision and providing infrastructure to the
2-19     property owned by the subdivider.
2-20           (d)  If the commissioners court grants a delay or variance
2-21     under this section, the commissioners court shall:
2-22                 (1)  make findings specifying the reason compliance
2-23     with each requirement is impractical or contrary to the health or
2-24     safety of residents of the subdivision;
2-25                 (2)  keep a record of its proceedings and include in
2-26     the record documentation of the findings and the information
2-27     submitted under Subsection (b); and
2-28                 (3)  submit a copy of the record to the attorney
2-29     general.
2-30           (e)  The failure of the attorney general to comment or object
2-31     to a delay or variance granted under this section does not
2-32     constitute a waiver of or consent to the validity of the delay or
2-33     variance granted.
2-34           (f)  This section does not affect a civil suit filed against,
2-35     a criminal prosecution of, or the validity of a penalty imposed on
2-36     a subdivider for a violation of law, regardless of the date on
2-37     which the violation occurred.
2-38           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-39     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-40     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-41     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-42     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-43     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-44     passage, and it is so enacted.
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