By: Wilson (Senate Sponsor - Bettencourt) H.B. No. 3697
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2023;
May 11, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on Local
Government; May 18, 2023, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0;
May 18, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 3697 By: Nichols
COMMITTEE VOTE
YeaNayAbsentPNV
BettencourtX
SpringerX
EckhardtX
GutierrezX
HallX
NicholsX
ParkerX
PaxtonX
WestX
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to county regulation of subdivisions and approval of
subdivision plans or plats.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 232.001(a), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The owner of a tract of land located outside the limits
of a municipality must have a plat of the subdivision prepared if
the owner divides the tract into two or more parts to lay out:
(1) a subdivision of the tract, including an addition;
(2) lots; or
(3) streets, alleys, squares, parks, or other parts of
the tract intended by the owner of the tract to be dedicated to
public use or for the private use of purchasers or owners of lots
fronting on or adjacent to the streets, alleys, squares, parks, or
other parts to be maintained by the purchasers or owners of those
lots.
SECTION 2. Sections 232.0025(a) and (i), Local Government
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioners court of a county or a person
designated by the commissioners court shall issue a written list of
all [the] documentation and other information that must be
submitted with a plat application. The documentation or other
information must relate to a requirement authorized under this
section or other applicable law. An application submitted to the
commissioners court or the person designated by the commissioners
court that contains all [the] documents and other information on
the written list is considered complete. The commissioners court
shall post and continuously maintain the most current version of
the list on the county's Internet website.
(i) If the commissioners court or the court's designee fails
to approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove a plat
application as required by this subchapter:
(1) the commissioners court shall refund the greater
of the unexpended portion of any application fee or deposit or 50
percent of an application fee or deposit that has been paid;
(2) the application is granted by operation of law;
[and]
(3) the applicant may apply to a district court in the
county where the tract of land is located for a writ of mandamus to
compel the commissioners court to issue documents recognizing the
plat application's approval; and
(4) the prevailing party in an action filed under
Subdivision (3) may recover reasonable attorney's fees and court
costs incurred in the action.
SECTION 3. Section 232.0033, Local Government Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) The commissioners court of a county or the court's
designee may not refuse to review a plat application or refuse to
approve a plat for recordation for failure to identify a corridor,
as defined by Section 201.619, Transportation Code, unless the
corridor is part of an agreement between the Texas Department of
Transportation and the county under that section.
SECTION 4. Sections 232.101(a) and (b), Local Government
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) By an order adopted and entered in the minutes of the
commissioners court and after a notice is published in a newspaper
of general circulation in the county, the commissioners court may
adopt rules governing plats and subdivisions of land within the
unincorporated area of the county as authorized by this subchapter
[to promote the health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the
county and the safe, orderly, and healthful development of the
unincorporated area of the county].
(b) A [Unless otherwise authorized by state law, a]
commissioners court shall not regulate, either directly or
indirectly [under this section]:
(1) the use of any building or property for business,
industrial, residential, or other purposes;
(2) the bulk, height, or number of buildings
constructed on a particular tract of land;
(3) the size of a building that can be constructed on a
particular tract of land, including without limitation and
restriction on the ratio of building floor space to the land square
footage;
(4) the minimum size of a lot, dimensions of a lot,
minimum width of a lot frontage, minimum distance a lot must be set
back from a road or property line, or another component of lot
density on a particular tract of land;
(5) the number of residential units that can be built
per acre of land;
(6) [(5)] a plat or subdivision in an adjoining
county; or
(7) [(6)] road access to a plat or subdivision in an
adjoining county.
SECTION 5. Sections 232.103 and 232.104, Local Government
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 6. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act but not later than January 1, 2024, each county shall
adopt and publish the list described by Section 232.0025, Local
Government Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 7. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a plat application submitted on or after the effective date of this
Act. A plat application submitted before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the application was
submitted, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 8. 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, 2023.
* * * * *