The city introduced a change to the land-development code Thursday that includes requiring special-use permits for some housing types to help keep taxes in local coffers.
The City Council during its May 22 meeting also held a public hearing regarding annexing more land for business and housing development.
Meanwhile, the new landuse ordinance is an extension of a resolution passed in January to keep certain types of residential developments which use tax-exempt financial mechanisms out of the city.
These are often run by outof- town firms that avoid paying local taxes.
“If you don’t want to build a multifamily, big-garden style apartment here in Taylor soon, this doesn’t apply to you,” Assistant City Manager Carly Pearson told the council. “This is (recreational-vehicle) parks and apartments. This isn’t duplexes, this isn’t triplexes or quadplexes, this isn’t your house, this isn’t currently operated or currently entitled multifamily. This is just that proactive protective measure going forward.”
Although under state law notifications about a change in land utilization tell residents they could “lose the right to continue using your property for its current use,” city staff emphasized this ruling does not apply to most property owners.
“It has some big, large, scary-looking font on it that says you may lose the right to use your property. That is a highly protected thing under state law and only in very specific circumstances will that ever apply to anyone,” Pearson said.
The new rules address housing finance corporations and public facility corporations, which are financing companies that use a state loophole so developers can build residential neighborhoods within a city or county and have those properties become tax-exempt, basically removing city land from the tax rolls.
It is done under the auspice of creating affordable housing.
Williamson County filed a lawsuit against one such company, Cameron County Housing Finance Corp. The finance company is trying to remove two multifamily developments in Williamson County from the tax rolls, which officials argue could cost the Hutto Independent School District at least $1.224 million in lost tax revenue, as well as affecting county and emergency services tax revenues.
The new Taylor ordinance places any developer wanting to build a residential neighborhood inside the city under additional scrutiny, and they potentially could be denied permission to build.
Pearson said the ordinance would not be a burden to traditionally financed multifamily residential developers.
“The council has made it a priority to want to open the gates here in Taylor for all types of housing to get that affordability. One thing that cities, including Taylor, had an option to do when faced with this challenge this year was, do we do a moratorium on housing until these lawsuits come down and the state figures this out? Y’all said no,” Pearson said.
She added, “You still want that door to be open for all types of housing to be available to development opportunities and ultimately to the citizens of Taylor.”
Taylor adds 52 acres
The city held a public hearing for the annexation of about 52 acres at 650 CR 403, as well as an accompanying request for an Employment Center Plan zone for a new development called Forterra Mixed Use.
The property owner is Taylor 53 Business LLC, represented by Luke Caraway of Viewpoint Engineering.
The master plan for the development calls for 107 single-family detached houses and a 12.78-acre neighborhood of build-to-rent residences. There is also 12,000 square feet of flex commercial space allotted.
The developer worked with city staff to create the employment center plan.
There was one neighboring property registering an issue with building an employment center adjacent to their land, but the city and developer worked with the owner and no further opposition was given at the May 12 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
The P&Z Commission recommended approval of the plan and annexation.
The item is scheduled to come before the council for a vote at the June 12 meeting, which normally starts at 6 p.m. in council chambers, 400 Porter St.
