March 2003

The Statehouse

By James Lawlor

Virginia: Roadmap to the Future. In what was otherwise an unremarkable session, the Virginia General Assembly created a new advisory council, the Council on Virginia's Future, and charged it with implementing a "Roadmap for Virginia's Future." The 18-member council reports to the governor and the legislature. By January 2004, the council is to recommend legislation defining the vision, long-term objectives and appropriate performance measures for state government. It is also charged with producing annual score cards assessing state government's current performance, productivity improvements and progress against long-term objectives. The council's membership consists of eight members of the legislature and 10 nonlegislative members. Seven of the 10 nonlegislative members are to be citizens.

The law creating the advisory council (H.B. 2097) defines the roadmap for the future as a planning process that may include developing guiding principles reflective of public sentiment and relevant to critical decision making, establishing a long-term vision for the state, conducting situation analyses of core state service categories, setting long-term objectives for state services, aligning state services to those objectives, instituting a planning and performance management system, and adjusting plans on the basis of public input and evaluation of results of the roadmap's implementation.

The law requires each state agency to develop a strategic plan for its operations, including a mission statement, identification of the population served and any changes in the populations, analysis of any expected changes in services provided by the agency, and a description of the agency's current resources and expected additional resources. Although the roadmap is directed toward encouraging state agencies to plan for the future, members of a the Virginia chapter hope it might serve in the future as a blueprint for other types of coordinated planning.

In other news, David J. Kovacs, AICP, the chapter's director for policy and legislation, reports the state Commission on Growth and Economic Development has scheduled its first meeting of the year for March 19. The legislature established the commission in 2001, assigning it the task of examining issues related to growth management. It is expected the commission will consider how to approach a number of adequate public facilities bills the legislature referred to it during the session just concluded.

Contact David J. Kovacs, 804-786-1518, vapalegs@aol.com.

Texas: Biennial Flurry. The Texas Legislature meets only every other year, so when it does, there is a tall stack of bills to get through. The current session is no exception. The Texas Municipal League, which acts as the APA chapter's "eyes and ears" in Austin, is tracking a number of bills of direct interest to planners, as well as many bills of more general interest to cities. Here is a sampling of bills filed before the March 14 deadline:

• H.B. 568 would prohibit unilateral annexation by cities, and place other restrictions on cities' annexation power.
• H.B. 609 would bar cities with a population of more than 250,000 from annexing land without the consent of the owner or owners.
• H.B. 789 would relieve religious organizations from the requirement of preparing a plat to obtain land development permits.
• H.B. 803 would require cities condemning land in order to develop groundwater rights to consider the value of the groundwater as well as a market value of the land itself in setting the acquisition price.
• H.B. 865 would rebate one cent of the state gasoline tax to cities where the gas was sold to fund acquisition of rights-of-way and for road construction and maintenance.
• H.B. 1204 makes changes in the way subdivision plats are regulated in areas within cities' extraterritorial jurisdiction.
• H.B. 1207 would allow cities to regulate appearance or architectural styles of buildings and other structures, including the types of building materials used, and the appearance of open spaces, including the types in quantities of landscaping materials required. However, regulations would not apply to construction protected under the state's permit vesting statute.
• H.B. 1233 would "sunset" the state's Department of Economic Development, cut back on economic development services and transfer the remaining functions to an economic development office to be set up within the governor's office.
• H.B. 2178 would require local governments to compensate landowners if any zoning change reduces the value of property by more than 10 percent, using a procedure similar to that used in condemnation proceedings.
• S.B. 267 would require any entity, public or private, proposing to build a correctional facility within 1, 000 feet of a residential area, park, school, church or place of worship to provide written notice of its intentions.

The chapter is particularly concerned with the impact of H.B. 568 and H.B. 2178, both introduced by Rep. Anna Mowery (R-Fort Worth). The annexation bill, H.B. 568, would significantly affect cities' ability to control development on their outskirts and have a negative impact on their tax base, the chapter fears. H.B. 2178 would likely bring a halt to downzonings.

On March 27, the chapter and the City Planners Association of Texas will be holding a "Planners Day at the Capitol" in Austin, to discuss these and other bills with legislators.

Contact Ben Luckens, AICP, McLuckens@aol.com.

Utah: Quiet session, except... Chapter legislative chair Wilf Sommerkorn reports the 2003 legislative session produced relatively little new planning-related legislation. One bill that passed has the potential to get local governments embroiled in litigation, however.

H.B. 137, titled "Residential Facilities for the Disabled Amendments," includes a provision authorizing counties and municipalities to adopt ordinances limiting the number of persons who may occupy a residential facility for disabled persons, and providing that facilities that would likely create a "fundamental change in the character of a residential neighborhood" may be excluded. Although the statutes amended by the bill provide that ordinances dealing with residential facilities for disabled persons must comply with the state Fair Housing Act and the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act, chapter members are concerned that local governments may take the new legislation as a license to ignore requests for reasonable accommodation under the FHA.

Other bills passed include H.B. 51, sponsored by chapter member Ralph Becker, AICP, authorizing including historic preservation in the list of items that may be considered in general plans; H.B. 98, which changes the procedure for handling de-annexation petitions; H.B. 310, establishing a legislative task force to study state transportation needs and funding over the next 10 to 20 years; S.B. 35, adding Superfund designation as one of the criteria for a blight determination; and S.B. 37, creating a task force to study the impact of gravel pits on the environment and surrounding communities, and their benefit to the state's economy. S.B. 35 was prompted by the city of Midvale's plans to redevelop a former Sharon Steel mill site, Sommerkorn says.

Contact Wilf Sommerkorn, wilf@co.davis.ut.us.

California: Coastal Commission Update. On February 20, Gov. Gray Davis signed into law A.B. 1 from the special session, changing the method of appointing members of the California Coastal Commission. Under the new law, members appointed by the governor will serve two-year terms, while those appointed by the legislature will serve four-year terms. However, only the governor's appointees will serve "at the pleasure of" the appointing authority. Those appointed by the legislature will serve a fixed term.

Formerly, all members of the commission served at the pleasure of the appointing authority, a situation which the California Court of Appeal, in a ruling handed down December 30, 2002, said violated the constitutional separation of powers doctrine. (Click here for more details in the January 2003 Statehouse.)

Contact chapter executive director Sande George, 916-443-5301, sglobby@pacbell.net.