CNC was tracking around 40 legislative bills that would impact land use. The vast majority of the bills that were filed did not advance – in most cases for good reason. CNC joined with other groups around the state in an effort to defeat or ameliorate land use legislation that would undermine local control and community decision-making or chisel in stone bad policy. Despite long odds against well-funded proponents of these bills, aided by a small army of lobbyists, we had surprising, but not complete, success.
Here are three bills, that take and effect on September 1, 2025 and could have the biggest impact on our communities:
HB24 by Orr. The final version was pulled back from its original scope.
Major Impacts:
Petition Rights – homeowners were stripped of their petition rights against high density residential rezoning within 200 feet of their homes. We were able to salvage valid petition rights (20% of owners) involving commercial rezonings where the commercial use is more than 35% of the overall development.
Comprehensive Zoning Change notification – notification must be published in a newspaper and on the city’s internet website. Though the city may notify in the future about comprehensive changes like H.O.M.E. , they are not required to give individual notice and are allowed to decide what constitutes fair notice.
Very short statute of limitations on lawsuits filed against a city’s illegal zoning actions those actions allow more residential development on a property. The three year period to file suit has been reduced to 60 days from the effective date of the ordinance.
Travis County Delegation Votes: Hinijosa. Flores and Troxclair voted no. Eckhardt, Bucy, Cole, Goodwin, Howard and Talarico voted yes.
SB15 by Bettencourt. The final version applies to new subdivision plats of 5 acres or more.
Major impacts:
Lot size – the city may not require a residential lot to be larger than 3,000 sf, wider than 30 sf, or deeper than 75 feet. (the original bill was 1400 sf)
Small lots (4,000 square feet or less) – A municipality must allow 15 foot or less front setbacks – 3 full stories and 70% or greater impervious cover (unless the land is located in an aquifer recharge zone).
SB840 by Hughes – the final version regulates residential development of commercial property.
Major Impacts:
Residential development – a city must allow mixed use residential or multifamily residential in a zoning classification that allows office, commercial, retail or warehouse with any zoning change. The residential density allowed would be the highest allowed in the municipality. The height would be restricted to the existing commercial height limit. Other site development regulations would be relaxed or eliminated.
A comprehensive list will be available on the CNC website.