84th Recap: County Zoning Authority

Expanded county authority bills are filed nearly every session, in various forms and with various changes but the underlying goal is always to expand county authority in some manner. 2015 was no exception. TMHA's concern with some forms of expanded county authority is that they could allow counties to have the abilities cities currently have to zone out manufactured homes or manufactured home communities. With nearly two-thirds of our home sales going to rural areas of the state, any threat to our ability to sell homes in rural Texas is of paramount concern.

The quick summary of this year's county authority legislation is that there was a ton of activity and action occurring with some significant last minute efforts made by amending what were dead bills to still viable bills, but when the final gavel fell on June 1 no new county authority legislation that would adversely impact manufactured or modular housing passed.

HB 3793 and its Senate counterpart SB 1375 were both efforts to give some border counties the ability to control land development, zoning and, charge various fees and permits. SB 1375 was quickly derailed and never received a hearing. HB 3793 faired only slightly better by being heard in committee, but was never voted out of committee.

<< Return to the 84th Recap Overview | View the next 84th Recap story >>