85R9070 JRR-D
By: Martinez H.B. No. 2341
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the control of access to state highways by the Texas
Department of Transportation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 203.031(a-1), Transportation Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a-1) In the exercise of its authority to manage access to
or from a controlled access highway under Subsection (a)(2) or (4),
the commission by rule shall:
(1) require that a decision by a department district
office denying a request for access to a specific location on a
controlled access highway be in writing and include the reasons for
the denial;
(2) provide procedures for appealing a denial under
Subdivision (1), including procedures that:
(A) allow the applicant to appeal the denial to
the department's design division before the 31st day after the date
written notice of the denial is given to the applicant;
(B) provide that if an appeal under Paragraph (A)
is not decided before the 31st [91st] day after the date the appeal
was filed, the access applied for must be granted; and
(C) allow the applicant to appeal the decision of
the design division to the director and, if the decision is
affirmed, to a board of variance appointed by the director and
composed of at least three persons who may not be below the level of
department division director, office director, or district
engineer and who were not involved in the original decision to deny
access;
(3) provide that properly platted access points to or
from a controlled access highway that are located on undeveloped
property are subject to the access management standards in effect
at the time the points were platted regardless of when the initial
request for access was submitted to the department, but only if:
(A) development of the property begins and the
request for access at the platted locations is submitted to the
department before the fifth anniversary of the date the plat was
recorded; and
(B) the design of the highway facility in the
vicinity of the platted access points did not materially change
after the date the plat was recorded so as to significantly impact
traffic patterns to the extent that the platted access points
present a threat to public safety;
(4) require that:
(A) owners of land adjacent to a proposed highway
construction project be provided written notice of the project at
least 60 days before the date construction begins if the project
will permanently alter permitted access to or from a controlled
access highway at the owners' existing locations; and
(B) the access described by Paragraph (A) be
reinstated to the most practicable extent possible after due
consideration of the impact on highway safety, mobility, and
efficient operation of any changed traffic patterns resulting from
the construction;
(5) adopt criteria for determining when a variance to
access management standards may be granted, including criteria
that, in addition to highway safety, mobility, and efficient
operation concerns, takes into consideration any of the following
consequences resulting from denial of the owner's request for
access to a specific location on a controlled access highway that
may impact a property owner:
(A) denial of reasonable access to the property;
and
(B) undue hardship on a business located on the
property; [and]
(6) clarify that the remodeling or demolition and
rebuilding of a business does not cause new access management
standards to apply unless the department makes an affirmative
finding in writing that the remodeled or rebuilt business will
significantly impact traffic patterns to the extent that the
current access location presents a threat to public safety;
(7) ensure that the application of access management
standards does not result in inconsistent access to or from a
controlled access highway for properties used for the same or
similar purposes; and
(8) adopt access management standards that:
(A) ensure sufficient access to or from a
controlled access highway for properties that are two acres or
less; and
(B) require direct access to a controlled access
highway for properties that are adjacent to the highway and have at
least two hundred feet of frontage on the highway.
SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2018, the Texas
Transportation Commission shall adopt the rules required by Section
203.031, Transportation Code, as amended by this Act.
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, 2017.