(a) 
This article is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Section 212.904, Texas Local Government Code. This article implements a policy of the city designed and intended to achieve the following purposes and will be administered so as to:
(1) 
Promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the community and the safe, orderly, and healthful development of the city;
(2) 
Establish adequate policies and procedures to guide development of the city;
(3) 
Provide for the establishment of minimum specifications for construction and engineering design criteria for public infrastructure improvements to maintain land values, reduce inconveniences to residents of the area, and to reduce related unnecessary costs to the city for correction of inadequate facilities that are designed to serve the public;
(4) 
Ensure that development of land and subdivisions is of such nature, shape, and location that utilization will not impair the general welfare;
(5) 
Ensure against the dangers of fires, floods, erosion, landslides, or other such menaces;
(6) 
Preserve the natural beauty and topography of the city and to ensure appropriate development with regard to these natural features;
(7) 
Realistically and harmoniously relate new development of adjacent properties;
(8) 
Provide the most beneficial circulation of traffic throughout the city, having particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and highways, and pedestrian traffic movements; and to provide for the proper location and width of streets;
(9) 
Ensure that public facilities for water supply, drainage, disposal of sanitary and industrial waste, and parks are available for every building site and with adequate capacity to serve the proposed subdivision before issuance of a certificate of occupancy or release of utility connections or final inspection within the boundaries of the plat;
(10) 
Assure that new development adequately and fairly participates in the dedication and construction of public infrastructure improvements that are necessitated by or attributable to the development or that provide value or benefit that makes the development feasible;
(11) 
Help prevent pollution, assure the adequacy of drainage facilities, control storm water runoff, safeguard the water table, and encourage the wise use and management of natural resources throughout the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the community and the value of the land; and
(12) 
Provide for open spaces through the most efficient design and layout of the land, while preserving the land use intensity as established in the zoning ordinance of the city.
(b) 
To carry out the purposes hereinabove stated, it is declared to be the policy of the city to guide and regulate the subdivision and development of land in such a manner as to promote orderly growth both within the city and where applicable.
(c) 
Land must not be platted until proper provision has been made for adequate public facilities for roadways, drainage, water, wastewater, public utilities, capital improvements, parks, recreation facilities, and rights-of-way for streets.
(d) 
Proposed plats or subdivisions that do not conform to the policies and regulations will be denied, or, in lieu of denial, disapproved conditioned on conformance with conditions.
(e) 
There is an essential nexus between the requirement to dedicate rights-of-way and easements and/or to construct public works improvements in connection with a new subdivision and the need to offset the impacts on the city's public facilities systems created by such new development.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
Land proposed to be subdivided must be served adequately by essential public facilities and services, including water and wastewater facilities, roadway and pedestrian facilities, drainage facilities and park facilities. An application for a plat or development may be denied unless adequate public facilities necessary to support and serve the development exist or provision has been made for the facilities, whether the facilities are to be located within the property being platted or offsite.
(b) 
It is necessary and desirable to provide for dedication of rights-of-way and easements for public works improvements to support new development at the earliest stage of the development process.
(c) 
The city desires to assure both that impacts of new development are mitigated through contributions of rights-of-way, easements, and construction of capital improvements, and that a new development be required to contribute not more than its proportionate share of such costs.
(d) 
Proposed public works improvements serving new development must conform to and be properly related to the public facilities elements of the city's adopted master plan, other adopted master plans for public facilities and services, and applicable capital improvements plans, and must meet the service levels specified in such plans.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
The standards established in article X (Required improvements) of this chapter and article III of chapter 94 (Neighborhood parkland dedication requirements) of the Code of Ordinances and other ordinances of the city for dedication and construction of public works improvements and infrastructure are based upon engineering studies and historical usages and demands by different categories of development. These regulations identify certain minimum requirements and sizes for utilities, roadways, parks, and other facilities that the city council has determined to be necessary to provide the minimum level of service necessary to protect or promote the public health, safety, and welfare and to assure the quality of life currently enjoyed by the citizens of North Richland Hills. It is the intent of these regulations that no development occurs until and unless these minimum levels of service are met. Therefore, each subdivision in the city is required to dedicate, construct and/or upgrade required facilities and infrastructure to a capacity that meets these minimum levels.
(b) 
For each category of public infrastructure, a minimum standard of infrastructure, and in some cases, service level, has been developed based upon historic studies and construction projects of the city and other cities. These minimum standards take into consideration the soil conditions and topographic configuration of the city, the use and impact analyses of the North Central Texas Council of Governments in developing standard specifications for public works installation, and other historical use and performance experiences of the city that reflect the minimum level of facilities and services that must be built to meet the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of North Richland Hills.
(c) 
In order to maintain prescribed levels of public facilities and services for the health, safety and general welfare of its citizens, the city may require the dedication of easements and rights-of-way and/or construction of on-site and/or off-site public works improvements for water, wastewater, road, drainage, or park facilities to serve a proposed subdivision, or require the payment of fees in lieu thereof. If adequate levels of public facilities and services cannot be provided concurrent with the schedule of development proposed, the city may deny the subdivision until the public facilities and services can be provided or require that the development be phased so that the availability and delivery of facilities and services coincides with the demands for the facilities created by the development.
(d) 
Whenever the city council determines that levels of service in excess of these minimum standards are necessary in order to promote the orderly development of the city, the owner will qualify for reimbursement for any costs in excess of the minimum levels of service through city participation, to the extent funds are available by a pro rata reimbursement policy or other means adopted by the city.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
All lots to be platted must be connected to a public water system that has the capacity to provide water for domestic use and emergency purposes, including adequate fire protection.
(b) 
All lots to be platted must be served by an approved means of wastewater collection and treatment. The city may require the phasing of development and/or improvements in order to maintain adequate wastewater capacity.
(c) 
Proposed roads must provide a safe, convenient, and functional system for vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian circulation and must be properly related to the applicable transportation plan and any amendments thereto and must be appropriate for the particular traffic characteristics of each proposed subdivision or development. New subdivisions must be supported by a thoroughfare network having adequate capacity, and safe and efficient traffic circulation. Each development must have adequate access to the thoroughfare network. The city may require the phasing of development and/or improvements in order to maintain a safe, convenient and functional system of roads for vehicular and pedestrian circulation.
(d) 
Drainage improvements serving new development must be designed to prevent overloading the capacity of the downstream drainage system. The city may require the phasing of development, the use of control methods such as retention or detention, the construction of off-site drainage improvements, or drainage impact fees in order to mitigate the impacts of the proposed subdivision.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
In the case of existing adjacent or abutting roads, the city may require that the entire right-of-way be dedicated and/or improved to the city's design standards, based upon factors including the impact of the proposed subdivision on the road, safety to the traveling public, conditions and life expectancy of the road, the impact of the proposed subdivision on other roads, the timing of this development in relation to need for improving the road, the impact of the traffic on the road and city's roadway system as a whole.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
The city will require an initial demonstration that a proposed subdivision will be adequately served by public facilities and services at the time for approval of the first development application that portrays a specific plan of development, including but not limited to a petition for establishing a planned development zoning district, or other overlay zoning district; or a developer's agreement; or an application for a preliminary or final plat.
(b) 
The obligation to dedicate rights-of-way and/or to construct one or more public works improvements to serve a new subdivision may be deferred until approval of a subsequent phase of the subdivision, at the sole discretion of the city engineer, upon written request of the property owner, or at the city's own initiative. As a condition of deferring the obligation, the city may require that the subdivider include provisions in the developer's agreement, specifying the time for dedication of rights-of-way for and/or construction of public works improvements serving the subdivision.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
Prior to a decision by the planning and zoning commission on a preliminary plat application, or if no preliminary plat application is required, on a final plat application, or any other application for which an exaction requirement is a condition of approval, the city engineer must prepare a written statement affirming that each exaction requirement to be imposed as a condition of approval is roughly proportionate to the demand created by the subdivision or development on the applicable public facilities system of the city, taking into consideration the nature and extent of the development proposed. In making this determination, the city engineer may consider the following:
(1) 
Categorical findings of the North Central Texas Council of Governments in developing standard specifications for public infrastructure improvements;
(2) 
The proposed and potential use of the land;
(3) 
The timing and sequence of development in relation to availability of adequate levels of public facilities systems;
(4) 
Impact fee studies, traffic impact studies, drainage studies or other studies that measure the demand for services created by developments and the impact on the city's public facilities system;
(5) 
The function of the public infrastructure improvements in serving the proposed subdivision or development;
(6) 
The degree to which public infrastructure improvements necessary to serve the proposed subdivision are supplied by other developments;
(7) 
The anticipated participation by the city in the costs of necessary public infrastructure improvements;
(8) 
The degree to which acceptable private infrastructure improvements to be constructed and maintained by the applicant will offset the need for public infrastructure improvements;
(9) 
Any reimbursements for the costs of public infrastructure improvements for which the proposed subdivision is eligible; and/or
(10) 
Any other information relating to the impacts created by the proposed subdivision or development on the city's public facilities systems.
(b) 
Based upon the proportionality determination, the city engineer must affirm that the exaction requirements of the subdivision ordinance, or other ordinance requiring the permit, as applied to the proposed subdivision or development, do not impose costs on the applicant for public infrastructure improvements that exceed those roughly proportionate to the impact of the proposed subdivision or development.
(c) 
The city engineer may require that the applicant, at their expense, submit any information or studies that may assist in making the proportionality determination.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
The planning and zoning commission and city council must consider the city engineer's report concerning the proportionality of the exaction requirements in making a decision on a plat application. The commission and the city council may consider the city engineer's report in granting a modification or waiver to the requirements of the subdivision ordinance.
(b) 
The city official responsible for issuing a permit for which an exaction requirement is imposed as a condition of approval must consider the city engineer's report concerning the proportionality of the exaction requirements in making its decision as to whether to grant the permit.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
An applicant for a preliminary or final plat or for a permit which imposes an exaction requirement as a condition of approval may file an appeal to contest any exaction requirement, other than impact fees, imposed as a condition of approval or in which the failure to comply is grounds for denying the plat application pursuant to the subdivision ordinance.
(b) 
The purpose of a proportionality appeal is to assure that an exaction requirement imposed on a proposed plat or development as a condition of approval does not result in a disproportionate cost burden on the applicant, taking into consideration the nature and extent of the demands created by the proposed subdivision or development on the city's public facilities systems.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
An applicant for a preliminary or final plat or an applicant seeking approval for any other permit or zoning for which an exaction requirement is imposed must file a written appeal with the city secretary within ten days of the date the planning and zoning commission or the city official responsible for issuing the permit takes action applying the exaction requirement. This may include denial of the permit or plat.
(b) 
A separate appeal form must be submitted for each exaction requirement for which relief is sought. The city secretary will forward the appeal to the city council for consideration.
(c) 
A developer's agreement may not be executed by the city until the time for appeal has expired or, if an appeal is filed, until the city council has made a determination with respect to the appeal.
(d) 
The appeal must state the reasons that application of the exaction requirement is not roughly proportional to the nature and extent of the impact created by the proposed subdivision or development on the city's public facilities systems and does not reasonably benefit the proposed subdivision or development.
(e) 
The appellant must submit to the city engineer a copy of a study in support of the appeal that includes, with respect to each specific exaction requirement appealed, the following information within 30 days of the date of appeal, unless a longer time is requested:
(1) 
Total capacity of the city's water, wastewater, roadway, drainage, or park system, as applicable, to be utilized by the proposed subdivision or development, employing standard measures of capacity and equivalency tables relating the type of development proposed to the quantity of system capacity to be consumed by the subdivision. If the proposed subdivision is to be developed in phases, such information must be provided for the entire development, including any phases already developed;
(2) 
Total capacity to be supplied to the city's public facilities systems for water, wastewater, roadway, drainage or parks, as applicable, by the exaction requirement. This information must include any capacity supplied by prior exaction requirements imposed on the development;
(3) 
Comparison of the capacity of the applicable city public facilities systems to be consumed by the proposed subdivision or development with the capacity to be supplied to such systems by the proposed exaction requirement. In making this comparison, the impacts on the city's public facilities systems from the entire subdivision or development must be considered;
(4) 
The amount of any city participation in the costs of oversizing the public infrastructure improvements to be constructed by the applicant in accordance with the city's requirements;
(5) 
Comparison of the minimum size and capacity required by city standards for the applicable public facilities systems to be utilized by the proposed subdivision or development with the size and capacity to be supplied by the proposed exaction requirement; and
(6) 
Any other information that shows the alleged disproportionality between the impacts created by the proposed development and the exaction requirement imposed by the city.
(f) 
The city engineer must evaluate the appeal and supporting study and make a recommendation to the city council based upon the analysis of the information contained in the study and utilizing the same factors considered by the engineer in making the original proportionality determination.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
The city council must decide on the appeal within 30 days of the date of final submission of any evidence by the applicant. Upon receipt of the final submission of evidence from the applicant, the city secretary must schedule a time and date for the city council to consider the appeal and shall notify the applicant at the address specified in the appeal form of the time, date, and location at which the city council will consider the appeal.
(b) 
The applicant will be allotted time, not to exceed 30 minutes, to present testimony at the city council meeting. The council must base its decision on the criteria listed in subsections 110-301(a) and 110-310(e) and may:
(1) 
Deny the appeal and impose the exaction requirement in accordance with the city engineer's recommendation or the planning and zoning commission's decision on the plat or other development application; or
(2) 
Grant the appeal, and waive in whole or in part an exaction requirement to the extent necessary to achieve proportionality; or
(3) 
Grant the appeal, and direct that the city participate in the costs of acquiring land for or constructing the public infrastructure improvement.
(c) 
In deciding an appeal, the city council must determine whether application of the exaction requirement is roughly proportional to the nature and extent of the impact created by the proposed subdivision on the city's public facilities systems for water, wastewater, roadway, drainage, or park facilities, as applicable, and reasonably benefits the subdivision. In making such determination, the council must consider:
(1) 
The evidence submitted by the applicant;
(2) 
The city engineer's report and recommendation, considering in particular the factors identified in subsections 110-301(a) and 110-310(e); and
(3) 
If the property is located within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, any recommendations from Tarrant County.
(d) 
The city council may require the applicant or the city engineer to submit additional information that it deems relevant in making its decision.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
(a) 
If the city council finds in favor of the applicant and waives the exaction requirement as a condition of plat approval or modifies the exaction requirement to the extent necessary to achieve rough proportionality, the applicant must resubmit the plat application to the planning division or city official responsible for issuing the permit within 30 days of the date the city council takes action, with any modifications necessary to conform the plat with the city council's decision. The applicant will not be deemed to have prevailed in the event that the city council modifies the exaction requirement.
(b) 
If the city council finds in favor of an applicant for any other permit and waives the exaction requirement as a condition of permit approval or modifies the exaction requirement to the extent necessary to achieve rough proportionality, the applicant must resubmit the permit application to the responsible official within 30 days of the date the city council takes action, with any modifications necessary to conform the application with the city council's decision. Failure to do so will result in the expiration of any relief granted by the city council.
(c) 
If the city council denies the appeal, the plat application must be placed on the agenda of the planning and zoning commission within 30 days of the city council's decision.
(d) 
If the rough proportionality appeal was submitted appealing the imposition of an exaction requirement for a plat application, and city council grants relief to an applicant but the applicant fails to conform the plat to the city council's decision within the 30-day period provided, the relief granted by the city council on the appeal will expire.
(e) 
If the plat application is modified to increase the number of residential dwelling units or the intensity of nonresidential uses, the city engineer may require a new study to validate the relief granted by the city council.
(f) 
If the plat application for which relief was granted is denied on other grounds, a new appeal will be required on any subsequent application.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)
An applicant may appeal the decision of the city council to the county or district court of the county in which the development is located within 30 days of the date that the council issues its final decision. In the event that the applicant prevails in such action, the applicant will be entitled to attorneys' fees and costs, including expert witness fees.
(Ordinance 3847, § 1(Exh. A), adopted 4/22/2024)