Rowlett planning panel recommends code changes to conform with Texas HB 24; measure approved 6–1

The Rowlett Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6–1 on Jan. 13 to recommend text amendments to the city’s development code so local zoning procedures align with Texas House Bill 24, a law that took effect Sept. 1, 2025.

Planning Manager Jalen Forche told the commission that HB 24 redefines a "comprehensive zoning change," raises the protest threshold in some cases from 20% to 60% of land area within 200 feet when proposed zoning would allow more residential units, and alters public-notice timing and signage requirements. “HB 24 changed those rules,” Forche said, summarizing the bill’s main effects and staff’s recommended ordinance updates.

The changes staff proposed would: add the state’s definition of a comprehensive zoning change (including citywide rezones or overlay districts that allow more residential units), require 15–16 days’ advance publication for newspaper/online notices while keeping mailed notices at 10 days, and preserve the city’s authority to post signs larger than the statewide minimum. Forche said staff has already been posting notices earlier to comply and is updating the code to match practice.

Commissioners probed how the new rules would apply in practice. Commissioner Pollard asked whether overlay districts and area plans (such as downtown or medical overlays) would be treated as comprehensive changes; staff and other participants clarified that only changes that allow increased residential density and meet the state’s criteria would trigger the comprehensive-change designation. Forche said recode Rowlett — the city’s ongoing, citywide zoning update — would qualify as a comprehensive zoning change and therefore fall under HB 24’s framework.

Several commissioners also asked how the public protest process interacts with this commission’s recommendation role and city council decision-making. Forche and a city staff member emphasized that the protest threshold affects the statutory process at council (the public’s written protests can change the vote threshold required at council), and that the planning commission’s vote remains a recommendation to council. The city attorney previously briefed council and staff on HB 24 at an earlier session, Forche said.

Commissioners raised concerns about notice and the potential reduction in protest power for nearby property owners. Forche repeated staff’s approach: to adopt the state changes into the local code so the public is aware of the new rules and to keep the city’s existing practice of allowing larger signs and earlier postings.

A motion to recommend the proposed amendments to city council passed 6–1. The commission will transmit its recommendation and the draft ordinance to the City Council, which will take the final vote on any code changes.

Next steps: the item moves to the Rowlett City Council for consideration and final adoption; no effective date for local code changes was set by the commission at the meeting.