Background:
House Bill 3167, enacted by the Texas Legislature on May 21, 2019 and signed into law by the Governor on June 14, 2019, requires the municipal authority responsible for approving plats to approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove a subdivision plan, subdivision construction plan, site plan, land development application, site development plan, preliminary plat, general plan, final plat, or replat within 30 days of the date the application is filed, beginning September 1, 2019. Additionally, House Bill 3167 requires the municipal authority responsible for approving plats to issue a written statement that sets forth the conditions of a conditional approval or reasons for a denial, to which the applicant may submit a response that purports to address said conditions or reasons, and the municipal authority must approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove the application within 15 days of the date the response is filed. In order to bring all plats, plans, and other land development applications to the Planning Commission, the municipal authority responsible for approval, for final action within 30 days of the date the application is filed, as well as all resubmissions to the Commission within 15 days of the date the response is filed, the City will be required to dedicate additional resources to the review of said applications.
On August 13, 2019 City staff presented to City Council in workshop session. The presentation included an update on application types subject to the new legislation, applicable development review times, and a draft fee schedule to meet the required review deadlines. As part of this meeting the City Council provided the following feedback:
- General support for recovering staff time needed to address the expedited review schedule.
- Review of the proposed pre-application fee was requested.
- Potential stipend for Planning and Zoning Commissioners.
In order to address the above direction staff has included the following for your review:
- Base fee for planning and zoning commission meetings per item.
- Staff fee to address support needed in addition the base professional review fee presented to the City Council during workshop session on 8/13.