A really big part of the story here is that under Texas law, counties are prohibited from zoning their unincorporated areas. I don't actually know if that is completely unique to TX or if it exists in other states (if it did it would probably be other Southern states)--anyone on here know?--but it is definitely unusual within the US. For that reason, the land use scholars Robert Puentes and Rolf Pendall, years ago, referred to the land use regime that we have here as "Wild Wild Texas"--all of TX (not just Houston) was in its own category.
In addition to a ton of subdivisions and RV parks and cement plants and so forth, that explains why Community First Village was able to be built in unincorporated Travis County. The neighbors didn't like it--but too bad! There was no legal mechanism they could invoke to stop it. The county's hands were tied--they had to approve it. I always correct people when they talk about "this amazing development for formerly homeless people in Austin"--no! The whole point is that it is not in Austin. It never in a million years would have gotten approved had it been inside of Austin, for all of the reasons Ryan says in this post.
Counties' ability to zone is hobbled in a few other states (AZ, MT) but I think TX stands alone in its total prohibition. The political power of property rights has the same effect in a lot of more rural landscapes, though.
Texas counties can and do set minimum lot sizes, which greatly limits what development options are possible even though there isn’t zoning.
According to @Joel Anderson, Alabama is even more open than Texas. He can elaborate, but my understanding is they have unrestricted land where you don’t even need a building permit.
I like the "abundance without intention" formulation. Anyone who's interested can find my recent thoughts on abundance (and its sidekick, scarcity) in yesterday's newsletter on The Practice of Community.
I am exhausted, however, by these shots at a slow-moving target. Its not the zoning, which is just a mirror of the story the community is telling itself. Where I live, the land-use regulations undergird everything that "Texas sprawl" is not, but they're adopted under similar legal authority.
You can't fix the zoning without changing the story first.
Thanks, Lee! I agree that any change in how we build or do things is downstream of policy, which is downstream of the story we communicate. If the story isn't compelling, nothing happens.
A really big part of the story here is that under Texas law, counties are prohibited from zoning their unincorporated areas. I don't actually know if that is completely unique to TX or if it exists in other states (if it did it would probably be other Southern states)--anyone on here know?--but it is definitely unusual within the US. For that reason, the land use scholars Robert Puentes and Rolf Pendall, years ago, referred to the land use regime that we have here as "Wild Wild Texas"--all of TX (not just Houston) was in its own category.
In addition to a ton of subdivisions and RV parks and cement plants and so forth, that explains why Community First Village was able to be built in unincorporated Travis County. The neighbors didn't like it--but too bad! There was no legal mechanism they could invoke to stop it. The county's hands were tied--they had to approve it. I always correct people when they talk about "this amazing development for formerly homeless people in Austin"--no! The whole point is that it is not in Austin. It never in a million years would have gotten approved had it been inside of Austin, for all of the reasons Ryan says in this post.
Thanks, Jake! Super helpful context!
Counties' ability to zone is hobbled in a few other states (AZ, MT) but I think TX stands alone in its total prohibition. The political power of property rights has the same effect in a lot of more rural landscapes, though.
Texas counties can and do set minimum lot sizes, which greatly limits what development options are possible even though there isn’t zoning.
According to @Joel Anderson, Alabama is even more open than Texas. He can elaborate, but my understanding is they have unrestricted land where you don’t even need a building permit.
I know in FL, counties are allowed to zone unincorporated areas.
I like the "abundance without intention" formulation. Anyone who's interested can find my recent thoughts on abundance (and its sidekick, scarcity) in yesterday's newsletter on The Practice of Community.
I am exhausted, however, by these shots at a slow-moving target. Its not the zoning, which is just a mirror of the story the community is telling itself. Where I live, the land-use regulations undergird everything that "Texas sprawl" is not, but they're adopted under similar legal authority.
You can't fix the zoning without changing the story first.
Thanks, Lee! I agree that any change in how we build or do things is downstream of policy, which is downstream of the story we communicate. If the story isn't compelling, nothing happens.
I think it’s high time to hogtie car-centric laws!