Building and Standards Commission votes to require council ordinance referrals before City Council consideration

The Lago Vista Building and Standards Commission voted unanimously Sept. 3 to add language to the city code requiring City Council to refer proposed ordinance amendments that fall within the commission’s purview to the commission for recommendation before the council considers them.

Commissioners said the change is intended to ensure subject-matter expertise is applied to proposed legislative changes and to avoid Council-approved language reaching the council without prior technical review. The amendment will be inserted into the commission’s existing code sections; the commission directed staff and the city attorney to prepare a redlined ordinance for review at the commission’s next meeting.

Why it matters: Commission members argued that technical matters affecting building safety, signs, property maintenance and access management are best reviewed by the Building and Standards Commission before the council acts. Commissioners compared the proposal to an existing practice in which the Planning and Zoning Commission reviews certain zoning and subdivision changes before council consideration.

Discussion and scope: Commissioners and staff discussed whether the change would require multiple ordinance amendments across the code (chapters named in the meeting included chapters 3, 5, 6 and 11) or a single targeted amendment to the Building and Standards sections of the code. Several participants recommended adding a single sentence to the Building and Standards provisions in chapter 9 (specifically sections 9.801 and 9.805) to create the referral requirement and avoid amending multiple chapters. Staff advised the commission that drafting an ordinance amendment would take only a short amount of staff time and that the city attorney would review for legal conformity before it returned to the commission.

Process and next steps: The commission voted to (1) make the current duties language in section 9.805 a subpart a and (2) insert the proposed first-sentence referral language as subpart b of 9.805. Commissioners also passed a separate, unanimous procedural motion directing city staff and the city attorney to draft and return a redlined ordinance to the commission at its next meeting for review and final approval before referral to City Council. Commissioners estimated the full referral-to-council process could take several months once the ordinance drafting and review are complete.

A staff member summarized the practical effect of the commission’s decision: staff will prepare the ordinance language, the city attorney will review and edit it as needed, the commission will review the redline at its next meeting and, if approved by the commission, the referral will be sent to City Council for action.

Ending: The motion to amend 9.805 and to have staff produce a redline passed unanimously. The commission scheduled review of the attorney’s redline at its next regular meeting.