No. CS/CS/CS/SB 686
Filed under Development & Land Use.
Agricultural Enclaves; Authorizing certain persons to apply to the governing body of the local government for certification of certain parcels as agricultural enclaves; requiring the local government to hold a public hearing within a specified timeframe to approve or deny such certification; authorizing certain persons to submit certain development plans; authorizing the development of certain parcels for commercial, industrial, or single-family residential purposes under certain circumstances, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDA landowner whose farmland is mostly ringed by development can ask the local government to certify it as an agricultural enclave. Once certified, plans for single-family housing must be treated as conforming.
That replaces the old route. Owners used to apply for a comprehensive plan amendment, negotiate for 180 days, and have the result reviewed by the state land planning agency. All of that is struck.
The local government must report on an application within 30 days and hold a hearing within 30 days of that report. If it neither approves nor denies within 90 days, certification happens anyway.
The definition of an enclave widens, public services no longer have to be in place, and the whole scheme expires on 1 January 2028, when the old text returns.
AIOnce a parcel is certified, plans for single-family housing on it must be accepted as a conforming use. The local government cannot refuse them on the ground that they conflict with its comprehensive plan, its future land use map, or its zoning.
AIThe local government has 90 days from receiving an application to approve or deny certification. If it does neither, the parcels are certified regardless. A denial must be written, with findings of fact and conclusions of law.
AIThe route this replaces is struck. An owner used to apply for a comprehensive plan amendment carrying a rebuttable presumption against urban sprawl, negotiate in good faith for 180 days, and go to the state land planning agency for review. Gone with it is the rule that applications over 640 acres include clustering, mixed use and transfer of development rights to discourage sprawl.
AIOnce plans are submitted the local government and the owner must agree a review schedule within 30 business days, and it may be administrative. That schedule cannot run past 180 days, and the local government cannot require the plans to go through a quasi-judicial process or a public hearing.
AIA parcel that qualifies through the new interstate-highway route, and sits next to an interstate, is not limited to housing. It may be developed for commercial or industrial purposes too, provided an adjacent parcel or development permits the same density or intensity.
AIParcels can now be aggregated rather than counted one at a time, and ownership alone is no longer required -- control is enough. A parcel of 700 acres or less qualifies on a 50 percent perimeter test instead of 75 percent, and land inside an established rural study area qualifies outright.
AIThe act does not reach the largest counties. A parcel qualifies as an agricultural enclave only if it sits in a county of 1.75 million people or fewer, measured by the most recent official estimate.
AIThe changes are temporary. On 1 January 2028 both amended subsections revert to the text in force on 30 June 2026, preserving any amendment made in the meantime by some other act.