Following Mayor Jim Chiles’ proclamation honoring the Senior Citizen Craft Shop’s 40 year anniversary, the Wimberley City Council voted on new state laws last week affecting residential zoning challenges, food truck permitting and extended the moratorium on short term rental applications.
To comply with Texas House Bill 24, the Wimberley City Council adopted changes to its zoning ordinances. The changes make zoning challenges by neighboring property owners more difficult to achieve.
Before HB 24 was passed, zoning changes could be blocked by 20 percent of the adjacent property owners. City councils were required to pass the change with a supermajority vote.
Known as the "tyrant's veto" reform, HB 24 removes a significant roadblock to increasing residential density by curbing “Not In My Back Yard,” or NIMBY, zoning challenges.
The new law raises the threshold to 60 percent. If the 60 percent is met, city council can approve the residential voting change with a simple majority.
According to lawmakers, it now makes it harder for a small minority to stall development. The new law allows cities to more easily rezone areas for “missing middle” and high-density housing, increasing overall supply.
The new law, however, will not have much of an impact in Wimberley, says Nathan Glaiser, Wimberley’s ACA and Director of Development Services. “We don't get requests for changes like this very often. We don't have the infrastructure.”
Because of another new state law, food truck permitting will now go through the state. According to Glaiser, “this new law no longer allows local permitting of food trucks. It all goes through the state, so this ordinance removes that temporary structure ordinance and doesn’t replace it with anything local.”
However, the city can still enforce its zoning laws. “If you're zoned commercial and you have a restaurant, food trucks can set up. All they need is a state permit. However, food trucks in a residential neighborhood are not permitted.
The city council also voted to extend the temporary moratorium on the acceptance and approval of Short Term Rental applications that require a conditional use permit, on the request of Glaiser. “This gives us enough time to make any legislative changes, factor in city work plans and comply with open meeting requirements.” The moratorium is expected to extend into August.
When asked by council members if there was a backlog of STR applications, Glaiser said, “There's not, but I have had some inquiries, mostly from realtors. It seems that there are people who want to buy in Wimberley and they're very curious about whether they're going to have the opportunity to get a C.U.P. Conversely, realtors have had inquiries from people who want to sell, wondering if they can get a C.U.P. to help their property sell.”
