So-called hyper-grandfathering bill pushes against local regulations

Proposed law would retroactively apply land use, safety codes in force when property last was sold.

A bill aimed at protecting property owners’ rights from changing local government regulations could undo years of safety and land use rules and create a building environment in Texas with the potential for bars to pop up in residential neighborhoods, critics say.

Some local officials are calling Senate Bill 12 the “hyper-grandfa- thering” bill that goes far beyond current state provisions by retroactively applying to each property the land use and safety codes that were in place the last time the property was sold. In the extreme, SB 12 could lead to broad land use possibilities for parcels that haven’t changed hands in decades, according to six local government and public policy experts tracking the bill.

“You could put a pig farm in a residential neighborhood or a liquor store in a residential neighborhood,” said Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League. “It is extraordinarily broad and unnecessary.”

SB 12 and its companion House Bill 188 were filed in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for the Legislature to take up 20 items during the special session. Abbott sought a bill that would prevent local governments from “changing rules midway through construction projects.”

In a recent opinion column in the American-Statesman,

Abbott described how Austin’s plans for additional protected sightlines of the Capitol could limit the height of future buildings on some downtown tracts, “drastically diminishing the market value and expected use of the property — and pulling the proverbial rug out from under the property owners.”

Proponents say the bills protect individual rights against cities and counties that would seek to unduly restrict what property owners can do with their land.

“Private property rights and individual rights are intrinsic to what it means to be a Texan, and (SB 12) further enshrines those rights in Texas law,” said J.D. Rimann a policy analyst from the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The bill’s author, Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, said in a statement it would protect property owners from new county or city regulations that would upend the plans that people had when they bought the land.

“Since filing Senate Bill 12, I have been working with stakeholder groups across Texas, and I look forward to passing legislation that will protect the rights of Texans to develop their property,” Buckingham said.

In Austin, the passage of SB 12 would drastically undermine the city’s ongoing efforts to rewrite its entire land use code, known as CodeNext. If the City Council signs off next spring as planned on CodeNext, none of its provisions would take effect on a piece of property until the land changed hands, Planning and Zoning Director Greg Guernsey said.

“Let’s say CodeNext gets approved,” Guernsey said “It is not worth a whole lot if I have to deal with property codes from 10, 20 or 30 years (ago).”

Rimann said Sandlin’s pig farm hypothetical example probably doesn’t exist. It was unclear how many properties have changed hands since Austin enacted its first zoning regulations in 1931. However, some properties have belonged to their owner for a long time.

For example, the iconic Continental Club on South Congress Avenue has been in the same hands for decades. If the owner chose to redevelop the property, he would be subject only to the zoning and safety regulations on the books when he purchased it in the 1980s.

However, current state regulations would still apply.

The totality of SB 12’s potential effects aren’t clear. It could drive up local government costs by increasing the number of staffers needed to go through the arcana of zoning regulations and ordinances from years past. Guernsey said that even regulations unrelated to construction, such as fireworks ordinances, could end up being applied piecemeal across the city depending on when a property was last purchased.

“It becomes difficult to administer some of these codes because you have to go back to look at the ordinances at the time,” he said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has promised to go “20 for 20” and pass all of the governor’s agenda items by the end of next week.

Because of Patrick’s promise, city and county officials said their efforts to alter or derail the bill will take place in the House, which has resisted quick passage of many of Patrick’s and Abbott’s priorities.

The Senate’s Business and Commerce Committee will take up SB 12 and four other bills during its Saturday meeting at the Capitol.

In Austin, the passage of SB 12 would drastically undermine the city’s ongoing efforts to rewrite its entire land use code, known as CodeNext.