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Seguin representative wants to limit cities' zoning restrictions
A state lawmaker has filed legislation challenging Austin's ordinance outlawing new homes that loom over older ones in central neighborhoods. Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, said he developed the bill at the behest of Austin builders to get city officials talking about how the ordinance might be changed to better protect homeowners and landowners...Kuempel's proposed legislation, which would apply statewide, would restrict cities so they could enforce only one of three zoning limits: the percentage of a lot that may be occupied, the amount of impervious cover allowed on a lot or the floor-to-area ratio.
Republican lawmaker's bill could gut Austin's home-size ordinance
Seguin representative wants to limit cities' zoning restrictions
By Laylan Copelin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 01, 2007
A state lawmaker has filed legislation challenging Austin's ordinance outlawing new homes that loom over older ones in central neighborhoods.
Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, said he developed the bill at the behest of Austin builders to get city officials talking about how the ordinance might be changed to better protect homeowners and landowners.
"It's certainly not Austin-bashing in any way, shape or form," Kuempel said. "We just wanted to let everyone know we're still interested in private property rights."
At this point, the measure, House Bill 1736, is just meant to serve as leverage, Kuempel said, but he added that he is confident he can pass the legislation if it comes to that.
It's not unusual for lawmakers to second-guess Austin's decisions. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Legislature often rolled back or forced changes in ordinances or regulations it considered too punitive or out of step with the rest of the state.
City officials said Kuempel's proposal would effectively eliminate the home-size ordinance, which limits the size, shape and location of dwellings on lots in some neighborhoods close to downtown.
In February 2006, the Austin City Council imposed a 30-day moratorium on construction of new houses or additions that neighborhood activists deemed too large and out of character with the bungalows and cottages in many of Austin's older neighborhoods.
A month later, an interim ordinance was put in place while a task force of homeowners and builders worked on final regulations that, in some neighborhoods, eventually limited the size of new homes or additions.
Kuempel's proposed legislation, which would apply statewide, would restrict cities so they could enforce only one of three zoning limits: the percentage of a lot that may be occupied, the amount of impervious cover allowed on a lot or the floor-to-area ratio.
"It guts the ordinance," said Laura Huffman, assistant city manager. "There is no middle ground in the legislation as proposed."
The desire to regulate the sizes of houses on smaller lots is an issue outside Austin, too. Similar ordinances have been debated and passed in other Texas cities, as well as around the country.
Scott Norman Jr., a lobbyist for the Texas Association of Builders, said the way Austin approached the ordinance is much of the problem.
He said builders and some homeowners felt the City Council sprang the moratorium and interim ordinance on them and then stacked the task force developing the final ordinance to favor homeowners who wanted the size limits.
In contrast, Norman said, the City of Dallas had a task force study the issue for more than a year before it passed its ordinance.
Huffman said Austin's moratorium was necessary because the city had so many applications for building permits for the larger homes. She denied the task force was stacked to favor either side.
Norman said builders believe they can show that some homeowners saw their property values fall because of the ordinance.
He also said the ordinance affects property owners in East Austin more severely because the lots are narrower there.
Huffman said the task force is supposed to report back to the City Council this fall on the impact of the ordinance. In the meantime, she said, officials are meeting with state lawmakers and builders.
"We're asking, 'What is the underlying interest?' and 'How do we address that?' "
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Austin's ordinance:
•Applies to new and remodeled single-family homes and duplexes in about 50 older neighborhoods closest to downtown.
•Requires homes to fit within an envelope dictated by heights and angles, so that taller homes don't loom over homes nearby.
•Requires that homes be no taller than 32 feet and be no bigger than either 2,300 square feet or 40 percent of the lot size.
•Exempts features such as attics, small attached garages and first-floor porches from the size count.
•Passed in June 2006.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/03/01/1homesize.html |
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