By Krusee H.B. No. 3422
77R6011 PAM-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to agreements between municipalities and school districts
1-3 relating to land development standards.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 212.902, Local Government Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 212.902. SCHOOL DISTRICT LAND DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS.
1-8 (a) This section applies to agreements between a school district
1-9 [districts] and a [any] municipality [which has annexed territory
1-10 for limited purposes].
1-11 (b) Except as provided by Subsection (g), school districts
1-12 are exempt from all municipal land development standards and are
1-13 only required to comply with land development standards included in
1-14 an agreement under this section. This section does not prohibit a
1-15 municipality from providing funds in connection with any work that
1-16 would bring school district property into compliance with a land
1-17 development standard.
1-18 (c) On request by a school district, a municipality shall
1-19 enter an agreement with the board of trustees of the school
1-20 district to establish review fees, review periods, and land
1-21 development standards ordinances and to provide alternative water
1-22 pollution control methodologies for school buildings constructed by
1-23 the school district. In entering into an agreement under this
1-24 section, the school district and the municipality shall balance the
2-1 need of the school district to provide economical public schools
2-2 and the obligation of the municipality to regulate land use to
2-3 promote the public health, safety, and welfare. The agreement may
2-4 [shall] include a provision exempting the district from all land
2-5 development ordinances in cases where the district is adding
2-6 temporary or permanent classroom buildings on an existing school
2-7 campus.
2-8 (d) [(c)] If the municipality and the school district do not
2-9 reach an agreement on or before the 120th day after the date on
2-10 which the municipality receives the district's request for an
2-11 agreement, proposed agreements by the school district and the
2-12 municipality shall be submitted to an independent arbitrator
2-13 appointed by the presiding district judge whose jurisdiction
2-14 includes the school district. The arbitrator shall, after a
2-15 hearing at which both the school district and municipality make
2-16 presentations on their proposed agreements, prepare an agreement
2-17 resolving any differences between the proposals. The arbitrator
2-18 must comply with the provisions of this section in resolving the
2-19 differences. The agreement prepared by the arbitrator will be
2-20 final and binding upon both the school district and the
2-21 municipality. The cost of the arbitration proceeding shall be
2-22 borne equally by the school district and the municipality.
2-23 (e) [(d)] A school district that requests an agreement under
2-24 this section, at the time it makes the request, shall send a copy
2-25 of the request to the commissioner of education. At the end of the
2-26 120-day period, the requesting district shall report to the
2-27 commissioner the status or result of negotiations with the
3-1 municipality. A municipality may send a separate status report to
3-2 the commissioner. The district shall send to the commissioner a
3-3 copy of each agreement between the district and a municipality
3-4 under this section.
3-5 (f) [(e)] In this section, "land development standards"
3-6 includes subdivision and platting requirements, impervious cover
3-7 limitations, building setbacks, floor to area ratios, building
3-8 coverage, water quality controls, landscaping, development
3-9 setbacks, compatibility standards, traffic analyses, restrictions
3-10 on temporary or permanent classroom buildings, building material
3-11 restrictions, exterior facade restrictions, equipment location and
3-12 cover restrictions, limitations on parking, and driveway cuts, if
3-13 applicable.
3-14 (g) A school district is required to comply with the
3-15 municipal fire, safety, health, and building code ordinances in the
3-16 construction of school buildings except to the extent that the
3-17 applicability of an ordinance is modified by an agreement between
3-18 the municipality and the school district relating to land
3-19 development standards. This [(f) Nothing in this] section does
3-20 not [shall be construed to limit the applicability of or] waive
3-21 fees for fire, safety, health, or building code ordinances of the
3-22 municipality prior to or during construction of school buildings.
3-23 An [, nor shall any] agreement under this section may not waive any
3-24 fee or modify any ordinance of a municipality for an
3-25 administration, service, or athletic facility proposed for
3-26 construction by a school district.
3-27 (h) Municipal ordinances or regulations relating to
4-1 aesthetics, maintaining property values, or zoning do not apply to
4-2 school districts.
4-3 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
4-4 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to an
4-5 agreement between a school district and a municipality entered into
4-6 on or after the effective date of this Act. An agreement entered
4-7 into before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
4-8 in effect when the agreement was entered into, and the former law
4-9 is continued in effect for that purpose.