By: Coleman H.B. No. 3492
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to authorizing counties to adopt buffer zone regulations
and comprehensive plans and assess a roadway cost recovery fee;
providing a penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. . Subtitle B, Title 7, Local Government Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 236 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 236. COUNTY BUFFER ZONE REGULATIONS
Sec. 236.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Agricultural use" means a use or activity
involving
(A) cultivating the soil to produce crops for
human food, animal feed, seed for planting, or the production of
fibers;
(B) practicing floriculture, viticulture,
silviculture, or horticulture;
(C) raising, feeding, or keeping animals for
breeding purposes or for the production of food, fiber, leather,
pelts, or other tangible products having commercial value, with the
exception of concentrated animal feeding operations;
(D) planting cover crops, including cover crops
cultivated for transplantation, or leaving land idle for the
purpose of participating in a government program or normal crop or
livestock rotation procedure; or
(E) wildlife management.
(2) "Buffer zone" means the distance between a
structure, device, item, equipment, or enclosure used for an
activity at the site of an industrial use and the nearest property
boundary of a residential and civic use.
(3) "Industrial use" means an industrial use or
activity, including manufacturing, light or heavy industry,
trucking depots, marinas, airports, confined animal feeding,
resource extraction, construction materials processing, or
warehousing.
(4) "Residential and civic use" means a residential
area or structure, hospital, elder-care facility, school, day-care
facility, church, or similar land use that the commissioners court
finds to be incompatible with an industrial use.
Sec. 236.002. BUFFER ZONE REGULATIONS. (a) Except as
provided by Subsection (b), the commissioners court of a county may
adopt regulations under this chapter to establish and ensure
compliance with requirements for a buffer zone between an
industrial use and a residential or civic use.
(b) Buffer zone regulations adopted under this section must
be consistent with a county comprehensive plan adopted under
Section 236.003.
(c) A commissioners court may not regulate under this
chapter:
(1) agricultural uses or an activity or a structure or
appurtenance related to an agricultural use.
(2) an activity described by Section 81.051, Natural
Resources Code; or
(4) an interstate gas pipeline facility as defined by
49 U.S.C. Section 60101.
Sec. 236.003. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. (a) The commissioners
court may adopt a comprehensive plan for the unincorporated area of
the county.
(b) The purpose of the comprehensive plan is to:
(1) promote the public health, safety, morals, or
general welfare of the county and the orderly development of the
unincorporated area of the county; and
(2) facilitate the planning of adequate
transportation, water, sewers, schools, parks, and other public
facilities.
(c) The comprehensive plan shall:
(1) designate industrial areas and residential and
civic areas;
(2) establish standard buffer zones reasonable and
appropriate to protect public health, safety, morals, or general
welfare and orderly development; and
(3) allow an industrial use in a residential and civic
area and a residential and civic use in an industrial area if the
site of the use includes the standard buffer zone.
(d) Development of a county comprehensive plan must be
coordinated with the comprehensive plans of municipalities to the
extent that the municipal comprehensive plans include
extraterritorial jurisdiction in the county.
(e) The commissioners court shall establish a technical
advisory committee to develop and recommend standard buffer zones
to the court. The commissioners court shall appoint the members of
the committee. The committee must include industry
representatives.
Sec. 236.004. PROCEDURE GOVERNING ADOPTION OF
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AND REGULATIONS. (a) The commissioners court may
adopt or amend a comprehensive plan or buffer zone regulation only
after holding a public hearing. Before the 15th day before the date
of the hearing, the commissioners court must publish notice of the
hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
(c) The commissioners court may adopt or amend a
comprehensive plan or buffer zone regulation only by an order
passed by a majority vote of the full membership of the court.
Sec. 236.005. INCENTIVES. The commissioners court may
provide incentives to a person who develops land in the
unincorporated area of the county in compliance with the county
comprehensive plan adopted under Section 236.003.
Sec. 236.006. SPECIAL EXCEPTION. (a) A person aggrieved by
a buffer zone regulation adopted under this chapter may petition
the commissioners court for a special exception to the regulation.
(b) The commissioners court may grant a special exception
that allows for the reduction or elimination of a buffer zone or
related requirement if the person demonstrates that the reduction
or elimination adequately protects the public health, safety,
morals, or general welfare and orderly development. The
commissioners court may condition a special exception on mitigation
of any adverse effects on public health, safety, morals, or general
welfare and orderly development.
(c) The commissioners court shall adopt procedures
governing applications, notice, hearings, and other matters
relating to the grant of a special exception.
Sec. 236.007. ENFORCEMENT; PENALTY. (a) The commissioners
court may adopt orders to enforce this chapter or buffer zone
regulations adopted under this chapter.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person violates an
order or regulation adopted under this chapter. An offense under
this subsection is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less
than $500 or more than $1,000. Each day that a violation occurs
constitutes a separate offense. Trial shall be in the district
court.
Sec. 236.008. EXISTING AUTHORITY UNAFFECTED. The authority
granted by this chapter is cumulative does not affect the authority
of the commissioners court to adopt an order to regulate land
development under other law.
Sec. 236.009. CONFLICT WITH OTHER LAWS. If a buffer zone
regulation adopted under this chapter imposes higher standards than
those required under another statute or local order or regulation,
the regulation adopted under this chapter controls. If the other
statute or local order or regulation imposes higher standards, that
statute, order, or regulation controls.
SECTION 2. Subtitle B, Title 7, Local Government Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 237 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 237. ROADWAY COST RECOVERY FEES.
Sec. 237.001. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "New development" means any of the following
activities that increase the number of service units:
(A) the subdivision of land; or
(B) any use or extension of the use of land.
(2) "Roadway cost recovery fee" means a fee assessed
on property undergoing new development to pay for or recover costs
born by a county to improve roadway infrastructure used or required
by the new development.
(3) "Service unit" means a standardized motor vehicle
trip generation measure attributable to an individual unit of
development calculated in accordance with generally accepted
engineering or planning standards.
Sec. 237.002. ADOPTION OF REGULATIONS. (a) After a public
hearing, the commissioners court may adopt regulations
establishing a roadway cost recovery fee for new development in the
unincorporated area.
(b) At least 30 days before the public hearing, the
commissioners court shall publish in a newspaper of general
circulation in the county a notice that includes:
(1) the time, date, and location of the hearing; and
(2) a general description of the regulation and the
roadway infrastructure expansion plan required by Section 237.003.
(c) The commissioners court may adopt or amend a regulation
under this section only by affirmative vote of a majority of the
members of the commissioners court.
Sec. 237.003. REQUIREMENTS FOR A ROADWAY COST RECOVERY FEE.
(a) A roadway cost recovery fee may be assessed only to pay for or
recover the costs of constructing, acquiring, expanding, or
improving roadway infrastructure necessary to serve new
development, including relocating.
(b) Before adopting a regulation under Section 237.002, the
county must approve a roadway infrastructure expansion plan based
on appropriate data compiled by and a traffic study prepared by a
qualified engineer according to this section.
(c) The plan shall include:
(1) a description of the existing roadway network
serving the unincorporated area and the capacity and level of
service of the network;
(2) the total number of service units of new
development that is projected to be developed in the area served by
the network;
(3) the improvements to the network that are needed to
expand its capacity to accommodate the projected new development at
an appropriate level of service consistent with reasonable safety,
efficiency, environmental, and regulatory standards; and
(4) an estimate of the cost to make those
improvements.
(d) A roadway cost recovery fee must be reasonably
calculated to ensure that each individual unit of new development
in the unincorporated area bears its proportional share, on a
service unit basis, of the cost of constructing, acquiring,
expanding, or improving roadway infrastructure necessary to serve
new development.
Sec. 237.004. ASSESSMENT, COLLECTION, AND REFUND OF A
ROADWAY RECOVERY FEE.
(a) The county may assess the fee before or when a
subdivision plat or permit is approved and collect the fee when the
county issues a permit or a certificate of occupancy, unless the
county and a property owner agree otherwise.
(b) After the fee has been assessed, the fee may not be
increased unless additional service units are added.
(c) On request of the owner of property for which a fee has
been paid, the county shall refund the fee or any part of it that is
not spent within 10 years after the date of payment. Any refund
shall bear interest calculated from the date of payment to the date
of refund at the statutory rate set forth in Section 302.002,
Finance Code.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.