Agenda - Planning Commission - 11/06/2014

Home

September 25, 2014 I Volume 8 I Issue 18 Zoning Bulletin management (the "City") refused to accept the Residents "Affidavit for Commencement of [Referendum] Proceedings." Despite the Residents requests, the City refused to institute a referendum process for any of the ordinances at issue. The Residents then filed suit against the City. That suit was abated when they also filed a petition for writ of mandamus. The writ sought to compel the City to comply with the referendum process "as delineated by the [City] Charter . . . . " In relevant part, Article VI of the City Charter provided that qualified voters of the City had the power to use initiative power to "enact a new ordinance, or to repeal or to amend section of an existing ordinance." The City Charter also provided that qualified voters had the power to "require reconsideration by the City Council of any adopted ordinance and, if the City Council fails to repeal an ordinance so reconsidered, to approve or reject it at a City election . . . . " The Charter further set specific requirements applicable to petitions for referendum. The Residents contended that the referendum provisions of the City Charter applied to ordinances approving zoning amendments. The City, however, asserted that the initiatory process did not apply to the adop- tion, amendment, or repeal of individual zoning ordinances. The City pointed to state law —Texas Local Government Code 211.015. That legislation provides in pertinent part that: "[T]he voters of a home -rule municipality may repeal the municipality's zoning regulations adopted under this subchapter by either: (1) a charter election conducted under law; or (2) on the initial adoption of zoning regula- tions by a municipality, the use of any referendum process that is autho- rized under the charter of the municipality for public protest of the adoption of an ordinance. . . . [but in any case,] only . . . for the repeal of a municipality's zoning regulations in their entirety or for determinations of whether a municipality should initially adopt zoning regulations, except the governing body of.a municipality may amend, modify, or repeal a zoning ordinance adopted, approved, or ratified at an election conducted pursuant to this section. . . ." (Tex. Local Gov. Code Ann. §§ 211.015(a) and (e).) The City argued that § 211.015 authorized a referendum vote on the "initial" adoption of zoning regulations but not the amendment of indi- vidual zoning regulations, as the Residents attempted here. The Residents contended that interpretation failed to recognize that the statutory definition of zoning regulations includes an amendment to the regulations. According to the statutory definition provided by the Local Government Code, the phrase "adoption of a zoning regulation" also includes the "amendment, repeal, or other change of a regulation." (See Tex. Local Gov. Code Ann. § 211.002.) DECISION: Writ denied. The Court of Appeals of Texas, Corpus Christi -Edinburg, held that the Texas Local Government Code does not allow the initiative and referenda. 8 © 2014 Thomson Reuters