[NOTE]
This story is a continuation of the chain of events”, "House Bill 2439 to Supersede The City's Form-Based Codes"

What House Bill 2439 means for South Padre Island:
The state replaced a municipal stick with a municipal carrot. HB 2439 removed the Island’s (and every Texas city’s) ability to enforce Form-based Codes, but guided officials toward negotiation and agreement. In Part 3 of our FBC series, the Mayor responded to a question from Island Matters that highlighted the potential for reformation of the DSRTF.

7. Does a city have any option at all with regard to controlling building materials or construction methods?

The obvious method is by agreement. A city can enter into an agreement wherein a person voluntarily agrees to abide by certain standards. For commercial construction, the incentivizing tool would be a Local Government Code “C hapter 380 agreement.” For residential and commercial, it would be a “neighborhood empowerment zone” under Chapter 378 of the Local Government Code. Property and/or sales tax abatements could be other options.

With reorientation and repurposing, and the opportunity to use tax abatements, the DSRTF could have two functions. It could approve buildings that meet minimum code and it could recommend tax abatements for those that meet the Form-based Code.

As of today, communities all over Texas are banning together to remove HB2439 in the upcoming legislative session. The City of South Padre Island will have to decide whether to participate with the rest of the cities in Texas by working to change what has been described in several publications as “bad law.”

In Part 3, "House Bill 2439 to Supersede the City's Form-Based Codes," City Attorney, Ed Cyganiewicz, said during the June 9 DSRTF Board meeting that he spoke with the TML (Texas Municipal League). Cyganiewicz followed up regarding the general council's statements since the TML was monitoring the legislation. "Most agree that a city look a certain way above what's beyond compliance with the minimum national code is prohibited. For example, architectural features, roof pitches, window size, similar requirements that go beyond what is required by a base code are presumptively preempted."

Since HB 2439, the gates are open in a city where building requirements are necessary to both protect from tropical storms, hurricanes, and strong winds, as well as to create a city aesthetic that is enticing, adventurous, and beautiful for our residents and tourism industry.

Texas Cities React
Ben Thompson, a reporter for Community Impact, reached out to the Executive Director of the TML ("HB 2439 Brings Change to Local Building Aesthetic Laws"). Community Impact also reached out to city officials (large and small) and cities known for their unique infrastructure.

“You could build a house out of corrugated tin under international building codes, but that’s not appropriate in a 1960s brick, ranch-style neighborhood,” said Bennett Sandlin, Executive Director of the Texas Municipal League. “Our city officials are just beginning to digest how bad this is, and what a dangerous precedent it sets for keeping the community looking the way you want it to."

Although the City of Shenandoah declined to comment, its City Council members felt free to speak up.

"City Council requested in June that residents contact the governor’s office to appeal for a veto of the bill. “I strongly opposed this bill, as it takes away the rights of cities to set their own community standards, to protect their residents, in favor of construction industry interests,” said Raymaker in a September email. “It’s an overreach by the Legislature, in my opinion.”

The Dallas Morning News reported in their article, "Dallas, McKinney urge Gov. Greg Abbott to veto bill limiting cities' construction regulations," that author of the bill, Representative Dade Phelan of Beaumont intended to keep cities from forcing builders to turn to specific vendors.

“I don’t think the government should be in the business of picking winners and losers when it comes to building products,” Phelan said.

Dallas Morning News report states that the TML received "more than 220 (phone calls from) mostly small cities" who were focused on protecting their ordinances. “Cities want to have a say in having their neighborhoods look uniform,” said Sandlin.

The TML wrote a letter to "urge Abbott to veto the bill," according to Dallas Morning News report.

McKinney Mayor George Fuller, a builder-developer, also wrote Abbott urging him to veto HB 2439, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

Continued push-back on HB 2439 continued from Texas municipalities, as several articles started to appear not only about rights taken from the cities and planning departments folding, but how this will affect the future for the housing market and the trickle-down effect.

Legiscan.com provides a track record of House votes and Senate votes. Controversy and push- back surrounded this bill, and yet, it passed easily. Many cities, city councils, planning departments, and architects were against it, and yet, the final vote shows nine nays. Heard, through a simple Google search, was the cry from Texas municipalities.

Now it’s time to adapt to the law, challenge it, or both.