HomeMy WebLinkAbout28121-11-2025 - City Council - OrdinanceSec 2.102 & Secs. 3.402 & 3.403 Board of Adjustment Ordinance No.28121-11-2025
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ORDINANCE NO. 28121-11-2025
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF
THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, BEING ORDINANCE NO. 21653, AS
AMENDED, CODIFIED AS APPENDIX “A” OF THE CODE OF
THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TO AMEND CHAPTER 2,
“REVIEW BODIES,” SECTION 2.101, “BOARD OF
ADJUSTMENT” TO DECREASE THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT TO ELEVEN MEMBERS AND FOUR
ALTERNATE MEMBERS; TO REVISE MINIMUM
QUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS; PROVIDING THAT A
QUORUM CONSISTS OF NINE MEMBERS; REQUIRING AN
AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF NINE MEMBERS FOR ANY ACTION
OF THE BOARD TO APPROVE A VARIANCE, SPECIAL
EXCEPTION OR OVERTURN THE ZONING ADMINISTRATOR;
TO AMEND SECTION 3.402, “NOTICE” TO REVISE THE NOTICE
PROVISION; TO AMEND SECTION 3.403, “BOARD OF
ADJUSTMENT ACTION” TO AMEND THE VARIANCE
CRITERIA USED TO DETERMINE HARDSHIP; PROVIDING
THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE; PROVIDING A
SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE;
AND NAMING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS,the current Zoning Ordinance provides for two panels of the Board
of Adjustment (“Board”) composed of eleven members each to exercise all the powers and
duties of a Board in accordance with Section 211.008 to 211.011 of the Texas Local
Government Code; and
WHEREAS, the Board members are composed of professional fields including
law, property development, architecture, building design or mortgage and financing, as
well as residents who demonstrated their civic interest, general knowledge of the
community, independent judgment, understanding of zoning and planning, and availability
to prepare for and attend meetings; and
WHEREAS, one of the most significant challenges the Board faces is meeting and
maintaining quorum as required by State law, resulting in public hearings that are delayed
or adjourned before hearing all scheduled cases due to lack of quorum; and
WHEREAS, the inability to meet or maintain quorum creates a substantial hurdle
for an applicant/property owner to obtain the required number of affirmative votes for
approval unless the request is continued to a future hearing in the hope of a complete panel
of eleven members being present; and
Sec 2.102 & Secs. 3.402 & 3.403 Board of Adjustment Ordinance No. 28121-11-2025
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WHEREAS,staff recommend the following changes, described below, to the
Board to improve efficiency, improve the experience for the members and the
applicants/property owners, and to remove obstacles to holding successful meetings; and
WHEREAS, additionally staff recommend amending the noticing provision and
amending the criteria used by the Board to determine the grant of a variance to include
additional hardship criteria added by House Bill 1475, as adopted by the State Legislature
and enrolled in 2021.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS THAT:
SECTION 1.
Section 2.101, “Board of Adjustment” of Chapter 2, “Review Bodies” of Ordinance
No. 21653, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Fort Worth, is amended to revise the
composition of the Board with regard to number of regular members and alternate
members, revise the minimum qualifications of the regular members and alternates,
provide for attendance reporting and other changes to conform to state law, to read as
follows:
Sec. 2.101 BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT.
(a) Creation and appointment.There is hereby created a Board of Adjustment,
consisting of eleven regular members and four alternate members to serve in the absence
of one or more regular members, all of whom shall be residents of the City of Fort Worth.
The City Council will consider for appointment to the Board of Adjustment only those
persons who have demonstrated their civic interest, general knowledge of the community,
independent judgment, understanding of zoning and planning, and availability to prepare
for and attend meetings. At least eight of the eleven regular members and four alternates
must be a practicing or retired professional in of the following fields:
1) Law;
2) Property development;
3) Engineering;
4) Mortgaging and financing;
5) Architecture;
6) Real estate; or
7) Planning, urban design or landscape architecture
As nearly as is reasonably possible, the Board of Adjustment members as a whole shall
fairly represent the geographic makeup of the City of Fort Worth.
(b)Terms of office. Members of the Board of Adjustment shall be identified by place
numbers one through 11. The odd-numbered places shall expire on October 1 of each odd-
numbered year, and the even-numbered places shall expire on October 1 of each even-
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numbered year. The terms of alternate members shall expire on October 1 of odd-numbered
years. Board of Adjustment members may be appointed to succeed themselves. Vacancies
shall be filled for unexpired terms, but no member shall be appointed for a term in excess
of two years. Members shall serve until their successors are appointed.
(c) Organization.The Board of Adjustment shall hold an organizational meeting in
November of each year and shall elect a chairperson and vice-chairperson from among its
members before proceeding to any other matters of business. The Zoning Administrator,
or a designated representative, shall be the secretary of the Board of Adjustment. The Board
of Adjustment shall meet regularly and shall designate the time and place of its meetings.
The Board of Adjustment shall adopt its own rules of procedure as approved by the City
Council and keep a record of its proceedings in accordance with the state statutes, this
ordinance and the City Charter. Newly appointed members shall be installed at the first
regular meeting after their appointment or at such time as determined by the City Council.
(d)Meetings and quorum.Nine members of the Board of Adjustment shall constitute a
quorum for the conduct of business. The members of the Board of Adjustment shall
regularly attend meetings and public hearings and shall serve without compensation, except
for reimbursement for authorized expenses attendant to the performance of their duties.
(e) Decision by Board of Adjustment. The affirmative vote of nine members of the
Board of Adjustment shall be required to reverse or modify any order, decision or
interpretation of this ordinance by the Zoning Administrator or to grant a variance or
special exception.
(f)Review of zoning needs.The Board of Adjustment shall keep itself informed with
respect to requests for variances based on practical difficulty and unnecessary hardship,
and shall recommend to the Zoning Commission when, in its opinion, requests for
variances indicate a need for possible general zoning changes through the established
legislative procedure.
(g)Staff responsibility.The Zoning Administrator and any designated representatives
shall be the regular technical advisors to the Board of Adjustment.
(h)Attendance reports.Each month a report shall be submitted to the City Secretary
showing the cumulative attendance of each member with a notation of members who have
been absent from three consecutive meetings, and a notation of the non-availability of
alternate members to attend meetings for which they are called. Any regular member with
an unexcused absence from more than three consecutive meetings shall be deemed to have
resigned their position from the Board of Adjustment. Vacancies shall be temporarily filled
by an alternate member until such time as the City Council appoints a suitable person to
serve out the unexpired term of the regular member being replaced.
(i)Powers and duties.The Board of Adjustment shall have the powers and exercise the
duties of a Board of Adjustment in accordance with Texas Local Government Code §§
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211.008 through 211.011. The Board of Adjustment's jurisdiction shall extend to and
include the hearing and deciding of the types of appeals and applications listed below:
(1)Appeal of interpretation of the zoning administrator to board of adjustment.The
Board of Adjustment shall decide an appeal of the interpretation by the Zoning
Administrator upon a properly submitted request made by the requestor, any person
aggrieved by the interpretation, or any officer, department, board of the City affected by
the interpretation (see Chapter 3, Article 2).
(2)Special exception.To decide upon applications for special exceptions when the
use or development is specifically authorized under the Zoning Ordinance subject to the
approval of the Board of Adjustment (see Chapter 3, Article 3). Special exceptions that
may be permitted by the Board of Adjustment are specified in the use tables in Chapter 4,
Articles 6,8 and 12 or Chapter 6.
(3)Split-zoned lot.The Board of Adjustment may approve the extension of a use to
the lot line or for a distance of not more than 100 feet where the boundary line of a district
either divides a lot held in single ownership on October 1, 1940, or divides a lot held in
single ownership as of the date of subsequent annexation of said lot.
(4)Variance.To authorize upon appeal in specific cases such variance from the terms
of the Zoning Ordinance as will not be contrary to the public interest (see Chapter 3, Article
4).
(5)Appeals.To hear appeals for any action, other than actions relating to designation,
from the Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission, the Downtown Design Review
Board and the Urban Design Commission.
(6) Powers Strictly Construed.Nothing herein shall be construed to empower the
Board of Adjustment to grant a variance or special exception when the City Council has
enacted a development standard to serve as a prohibition of a structure, material or other
regulation.
SECTION 2.
Section 3.402, “Notice,” of Article 4, “Variances” of Chapter 3, “Review
Procedures” of Ordinance No. 21653, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Fort Worth, is
amended to revise the notice provision to read as follows:
Sec. 3.402 NOTICE.
Written notice of all public hearings before the board of adjustment on proposed
variances shall be sent to owners of real property lying within 300 feet of the subject
property. Such notice shall be given not less than ten days before the date set for hearing
to all such owners who have rendered their said property for city taxes, as the ownership
appears on the last approved city tax roll. Such notice may be served by depositing the
same, properly addressed and postage paid, in the United States mail. See § 5.147 for
additional notice requirements for halfway houses.
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SECTION 3.
Section 3.403, “Board of Adjustment Action,” of Article 4, “Variances” of Chapter
3, “Review Procedures” of Ordinance No. 21653, the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Fort
Worth, is amended to revise the variance criteria used to determine unnecessary hardship
read as follows:
Sec. 3.403 BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT ACTION.
(a) Board of Adjustment shallmay grant the application for a variance only when the
Board determines that:
(1) Literal enforcement of the regulations in this Zoning Ordinance will create an
unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty in the development of the affected
property;
(2) The situation causing the hardship or difficulty is unique to the affected property;
(3) The situation or hardship is not self- imposed;
(4) The relief sought will not injure the existing or permitted use of adjacent
conforming property; and
(5) The granting of a variance will be in harmony with the spirit and purposes of this
Zoning Ordinance.
(b) The Board of Adjustment may consider the following as grounds to determine whether
compliance with the ordinance as applied to a structure that is the subject of the requested
variance would result in unnecessary hardship:
(1) The financial cost of compliance is greater than 50 percent of the appraised value
of the structure as shown on the most recent appraisal roll certified to the assessor
for the municipality under Section 26.01 of the Texas Tax Code;
(2) Compliance would result in a loss to the lot on which the structure is located of
at least 25 percent of the area on which development is authorized to physically
occur;
(3) Compliance would result in the structure not being in compliance with a
requirement of a municipal ordinance, building code, or other requirement;
(4) Compliance would result in the unreasonable encroachment on an adjacent
property or easement; or
(5) The structure is a nonconforming structure.
SECTION 4.
This ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code
of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (2015), as amended, except where the provisions of this
ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in
which event conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed.
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SECTION 5.
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections,
paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and, if any
phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared
unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction,
such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences,
paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the
City Council without the incorporation in this ordinance of any such unconstitutional
phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section.
SECTION 6.
All rights and remedies of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to
any and all violations of the provisions of Ordinances No. 3011, 13896, 21653 and any
other ordinances affecting zoning which have accrued at the time of the effective date of
this ordinance, and, as to such accrued violations and all pending litigation, both civil and
criminal, whether pending in court or not, under such ordinances, same shall not be affected
by this ordinance but may be prosecuted until final disposition by the courts.
SECTION 7.
All other provisions of the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Fort Worth not herein
amended shall remain in full force and effect.
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SECTION 8.
This ordinance shall take effect upon adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY:
By: ___________________________________
Christopher Austria Jannette S. Goodall,
Assistant City Attorney City Secretary
ADOPTED: October 21, 2025
EFFECTIVE:December 5, 2025