(A) The designation of the plat as “preliminary” is not intended as an indication that the preliminary plat is of less importance than the final plat. The preliminary plat serves as the foundation of the final plat or plats. The final plat must conform to the preliminary plat it follows and generally may vary therefrom only in that it will provide more detail and specificity and may be changed to conform with approved conditions. (The term “approved conditions” is hereinafter explained.) Nevertheless, approval of a preliminary plat does not constitute approval of the final plat or bind the Commission or the Council to approve a final plat. For example, a change of circumstances between the date when the preliminary plat was approved and the date when a final plat is to be approved, the discovery, before approval of a final plat, of facts not known at the time the preliminary plat was approved, or the discovery of a mistake of law or fact may all result in the disapproval of a final plat even though it conforms with a previously approved preliminary plat. The Commission and the Council act independently of each other in the plat review process, and the approval of both the preliminary plat and each final plat by each body is required, per Tex. Local Government Code § 212.006. They, or it, as appropriate, may approve, approve conditionally or disapprove a plat. In the case of conditional approval, if a developer does not accept the conditions, the plat shall be disapproved and, in the absence of express disapproval, is deemed disapproved. If a plat is approved with conditions accepted by the developer, the conditions shall be and constitute part of the plat, and the plat shall be altered, changed, modified and/or accompanied by such information and other documents as required by the approved conditions. If the Commission approves a plat with certain conditions, the Council may not approve the plat without those conditions and may not impose other conditions in addition to the Commission’s approved conditions. The Council is limited to either approving or disapproving that which has been approved by the Commission.
(B) (1) A preliminary plat must be filed, except in cases where the minor plat review process applies. The preliminary plat must first be filed with the Commission. Filing is accomplished by delivering the completed application, the requested number of copies of the plat to the Building Official, and paying a filing fee established by resolution of the Council. This filing fee is in addition to the filing fee applicable to the final plat application.
(2) The Commission shall, within 30 days after filing, either approve or disapprove the preliminary plat. The preliminary plat is deemed approved by the Commission, unless it is disapproved within the 30-day period or such longer time as may be agreed upon by the developer and the Commission, per Tex. Local Government Code § 212.009(a).
(3) If the preliminary plat is approved by the Commission, whether approval be actual or deemed, then within 30 days after the preliminary plat is approved by the Commission or is deemed approved by the inaction of the Commission, the Council shall either approve or disapprove the preliminary plat. The preliminary plat is deemed approved by the Council, unless it is disapproved within the 30-day period or such longer time as may be agreed upon by the developer and the Council, per Tex. Local Government Code § 212.009(b).
(4) As part of the preliminary plat approval process in cases of staged development, the Commission and the Council shall establish a schedule for development of the contiguous property and filing of the final plat or plats applicable thereto. Failure to file a final plat on schedule shall result in automatic termination of the preliminary plat; provided that, the Commission and Council may extend the time for filing a final plat.
(5) The preliminary plat may be filed with and approved at the same time as the final plat in which event the preliminary plat and final plat approval processes will run concurrently, rather than consecutively.
(2012 Code, § 77-57)