GOVERNMENT New law lets ETJ residents leave city
REGULATING DEVELOPMENTS: THE POWERS OF A COUNTY VERSUS CITY
to create an exit path that didn’t previously exist for Texans in an ETJ displeased with city regulations. “The purpose is to get people out of what e ectively is no representation,” Bettencourt said. “People there are not voting for a mayor or city council members.” With no city in uence, property owners who leave an ETJ would only be subject to county government or could create their own incorporation, Bettencourt said. Diving in deeper: Hays County Precinct 4 Commissioner Walt Smith said counties are not given the tools that municipalities have to regulate new developments. Counties can’t dictate regulations on developments outside of agree- ing to a legal plat for a property, preventing construction on ood plains, regulating tra c standards if connected to a county roadway, overseeing some sewage facilities and enforcing the county’s wild re code, Smith said. “[Cities] have zoning; they [can] say this is a residential zone, and therefore you’re not going to put a commercial business in the middle of that residential zone,” Smith said. “That makes sense, right, but counties don’t have that ability.” Deannexed areas could create regulations through private deed restrictions or homeowners asso- ciations, but no government could enforce those, Smith said. The outlook: Smith said residents in cities such as Dripping Springs may lose the ability to provide public
BY ELLE BENT & CHLOE YOUNG
A new state law will allow residents in an extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, to exit the ETJ and thus opt out of city regulations. An ETJ allows a city to exercise authority over areas just outside of its boundaries. If an area leaves an ETJ, then the county can regulate development despite having less tools to do so than cities, Hays County Precinct 4 Commissioner Walt Smith said.
A new state law going into e ect in September could largely impact the ability of cities to expand and regulate the land neighboring their limits. Senate Bill 2038, which passed in May during the 88th legislative session, will allow residents of an extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, to leave the city’s authority through a petition or election. An ETJ is property outside of a city’s limits in which cities are still able to exercise authority over. The law also revokes previous state law that allowed a city’s ETJ to naturally expand as the city annexed new territories. Advocates of the bill said it allows ETJ residents to be freed from city regulations where they do not have representation; however, local leaders have expressed concerns that a lack of city control might negatively impact development and place additional weight on county government. Zooming out: Extraterritorial jurisdic- tions, which were created by the Texas Legislature in 1963, have allowed cities to invoke some regulatory authority over subdivisions outside of the city limits to ensure those areas re ect the city’s development standards, said Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League. The areas often become part of the city as a city may only annex a territory in its ETJ, Sandlin said. Most importantly, cities can regulate new developments through platting and building codes, Sandlin said. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, the author of SB 2038, said he wanted
COUNTY Accepts legal plat, for tract of land, for a property Regulates oodplains Regulates tra c standards if connected to a county roadway Oversees sewage facilities Enforces the county’s wild re code
CITY
Provides utilities such as water and wastewater Regulates subdivisions and zoning Regulates signage such as billboards Regulates nuisances like noises, odors and lighting
Regulates tra c standards if connected to city roadways
SOURCES: HAYS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT, TEXAS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE
For SB 2038
Against SB 2038
“THE PURPOSE OF SB 2038 TO GET PEOPLE OUT OF WHAT EFFECTIVELY IS NO REPRESENTATION. PEOPLE THERE ARE
“ SB 2038 REMOVES A LOT OF THE ABILITY WITHIN A CITY OR WITHIN THAT ETJ THAT THOSE SURROUNDING RESIDENTS AND THE COMMUNITY WOULD HAVE TO IMPACT THE KIND OF DEVELOPMENT THEY WANT TO SEE IN THEIR AREA.”
NOT VOTING FOR A MAYOR OR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS.”
PAUL BETTENCOURT, STATE SENATOR
WALT SMITH, HAYS COUNTY COMMISSIONER
input on what developments they want to see in the area as those developers that choose to petition out of an ETJ would not be able to contribute to that feedback. Smith said the bill could create “doughnut holes” or pockets that have petitioned to leave the ETJ next to developments that have to build within city regulations. “You will have a development that
is operating under a completely dif- ferent set of rules, and it just doesn’t necessarily create a fair playing eld,” Smith said. Bettencourt said he and other state legislators will study the bill’s implications. Bettencourt said. “There’s always a high number of possibilities to look through to see what really happens when a law like this goes into e ect.”
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SOUTHWEST AUSTIN DRIPPING SPRINGS EDITION • AUGUST 2023
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