Dallas, McKinney Urge Gov. Greg Abbott to Veto Bill Limiting Cities' Construction Regulations

AUSTIN--Dallas and McKinney are among cities urging Gov. Greg Abbott to veto a bill that would limit cities' ability to regulate construction of housing and commercial buildings.Advocates maintain that the proposed bar on cities imposing construction regulations exceeding basic national standards will reduce costs by quashing mandates now in place that benefit dominant vendors. Model codes that would rule are written by groups combining industry and government fire and building safety officials.Lee Kleinman, a Dallas City Council member and the council’s legislative liaison, wrote Abbott urging him to veto House Bill 2439, which the House sent Abbott last week.Kleinman said Monday that broadly, Dallas could lose its power to designate planned and conservation districts and related aesthetic standards. He said the issue before the governor boils down to who best governs a city’s look.“Is it the local elected officials of the city or is it bureaucrats in Austin like Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick?” Kleinman said. “They have a different world view. They come from Houston,” which lacks zoning.The bill, authored by Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and carried in the Senate by Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, bars a governmental entity from adopting or enforcing a rule, ordinance, order, building code or other regulation that limits or prohibits a builder from using a product in construction, renovation or maintenance of a residential or commercial building not written into a national model code within the past three years--and also from setting more stringent aesthetic standards than what a model code lists.The bill has exceptions too--such as any building located in an area designated for its historical, cultural or architectural significance as of April 2019 and any building located in an area designated for development, restoration or preservation under the “Main Street” program.An Abbott spokesman didn’t offer comment Monday. Phelan said his intent is to keep cities from adopting standards that force builders to rely on particular vendors, such as the Acme Brick Co., which Phelan described as one of the nation’s two major brick manufacturers.“I don’t think government should be in the business of picking winners and losers when it comes to building products,” Phelan said.Buckingham has said in a written statement about her companion bill that it “will prevent local governments from adopting ordinances that mandate the use of vendor-specific construction materials while limiting the use of construction materials that meet or exceed international safety code standards. Not only do these types of regulations restrict consumer choice, but they also drive up housing costs and cut off access to affordable housing options.”Bennett Sandlin of the Texas Municipal League said Monday that more than 220 mostly small Texas cities have ordinances setting a required amount of stone or brick in a building’s facade. Those cities, Sandlin said, “want to have a say in having their neighborhoods look uniform.” National codes, Sandlin said, focus on safety and not aesthetics.The league said in its letter urging Abbott to veto the bill that cities “regulate building materials in a variety of different ways because their citizens demand that they do so. Some of those regulations are for safety, such as prohibiting certain types of fuel gas piping. Some are for protection of property values, such as requiring certain exterior building materials.” The bill, the letter says, would ultimately “make structures in Texas cities less safe and sustainable.”Groups including the Texas Association of Realtors, Texas Association of Builders, Texas Apartment Association and the Dallas-based Safe Building Materials Association of Texas support the bill.Craig Chick, representing the materials association, said Monday that going forward, homeowners could front their homes with brick or stucco as desired rather than because a city requires as much. “Homeowners should have a choice in how their home is built--and the price,” Chick said.McKinney Mayor George Fuller, who said he’s a builder-developer, expressed concern about his city losing its ability to require masonry stucco and to keep homes in certain areas from being covered by siding. If the bill becomes law, Fuller said, he fears a surge in “cookie cutter” homes. “It’s more profitable” for builders, he said.Fuller said in his letter to Abbott that future uses of inferior building materials would burden property owners. “With the rising cost of homeownership and development,” his letter says, “the consequences of this could result in the degradation of entire neighborhoods and commercial centers, leading to a lack of vibrancy and blight in the community.”  Continue reading...