Harker Heights City Zoning Code
PLANNING AND
ZONING COMMISSION
§ 155.230 ESTABLISHED; MEMBERSHIP; FUNCTION.
There is hereby established a Harker Heights Planning and Zoning Commission composed of nine voting members and four alternates, to be appointed by the City Council.
(Ord. 2001-36, passed 11-13-01)
§ 155.231 TERMS OF MEMBERS; FILLING VACANCIES; REMOVAL.
(A) The term of the members and alternates of the Planning and Zoning Commission shall be for three years or until their respective successors are appointed and have qualified. No regular member shall serve more than two full consecutive terms on the Planning and Zoning Commission. Commission members may be removed at any time upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the City Council.
(B) During the month of September of each year, or as soon thereafter as is reasonably practicable, the City Council shall appoint members to fill all vacancies expected to occur on the Planning and Zoning Commission during the succeeding 12-month period. The term of each member shall begin on January 1 of the following year in which the member was appointed.
(C) The City Council may appoint four alternate members of the Commission. To maintain a quorum, an alternate member may serve as a voting member in the absence of one or more regular members when requested to do so by the Chair. Such alternates shall serve in the order in which they were appointed and must be members in good standing: having attended at least three meetings and acting in compliance with all explicit obligations, while not subject to any form of sanction, suspension, or disciplinary censure. An alternate member vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as a vacancy among the regular members.
(D) The City Council shall choose from the alternates to fill vacant positions.
(Ord. 2001-36, passed 11-13-01; Am. Ord. 2020-48, passed 9-22-20)
§ 155.232 QUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS.
The members of the Planning and Zoning Commission must be qualified electors within the city. A member of the Planning and Zoning Commission shall not be an employee or an appointed or elected official of the city.
(Ord. 2001-36, passed 11-13-01)
§ 155.233 MEETINGS.
(A) A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Monthly meetings of the Planning and Zoning Commission shall be held at a location open to the public; additional meetings may be held at the call of the City Council or the Planning and Zoning Commission Chair. Meetings shall comply with all applicable requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
(B) Should a member of the commission fail to attend three consecutive regular monthly meetings of the Commission, such member shall be automatically dropped from the Commission and a vacancy thereon declared.
(Ord. 2001-36, passed 11-13-01)
§ 155.234 POWERS AND DUTIES.
(A) The Commission shall elect a chairman, vice-chairman and such other officers as it may be deemed necessary for a term of one year. The Commission shall adopt rules for the practical and efficient transactions, findings and determinations, which rules shall be a public record.
(B) The function and the duty of the Planning and Zoning Commission shall be to make, or cause to be made, and to recommend a Comprehensive Plan for City Council adoption which guides the physical development of the city. Such plans may relate to the comprehensive planning of the city. Such plans and the accompanying maps, plats, charts, and descriptive matter shall show the Planning and Zoning Commission's recommendations for the development of the territory, including among other things the general locations, character and extent of streets, alleys, ways, viaducts, bridges, railroads, terminals, school grounds, fire station sites, or any other public grounds or public improvements, and the removal, relocation, widening or extension of such public work then existing. As the work of making the whole Comprehensive Plan progresses, the Planning and Zoning Commission may from time to time amend, extend or add to the plan.
(C) In the preparation of such plan, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of present conditions and future growth of the city, and with due regard to its relations to neighboring territory. The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the city and its environs which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development; including, among other things, adequate provision for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, the promotion of the healthful and convenient distribution of population, the efficient expenditures of public funds, and the adequate provision of public utilities and other public requirements.
(D) The Planning and Zoning Commission shall make to the City Council an annual report, giving a statement of its work during the preceding year. In such annual report it shall also make its recommendations as to future projects to be undertaken, and from time to time it shall also make like recommendations for public improvements, which in its judgment should be undertaken.
(E) The Commission shall exercise its authority as the Zoning Commission in accordance with Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 211.007 and recommend to the City Council approval or disapproval of proposed changes in the zoning districts and related ordinances based on the adopted Comprehensive Plan.
(Ord. 2001-36, passed 11-13-01; Am. Ord. 2006-40, passed 10-24-06)
§ 155.999 PENALTY.
(A) It shall be the duty of the Building Official to enforce the provisions of this chapter, and to refuse to issue any permit for any building, or for the use of any premises, which would violate any of the provisions of this chapter.
(B) In case any building is erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, repaired, or converted or any building or land is used in violation of this chapter, the Building Official is authorized and directed to institute any appropriate action to put an end to any such violation.
(C) Any person or corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter or fail to comply therewith or with any of the requirements thereof or who shall build or alter any building in violation of any detailed statement or plan submitted and approved hereunder shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to a fine of not more than $2,000, and each day such violation shall be permitted to exist shall constitute a separate offense. The owner or owners of any building or premises, or part thereof, where anything in violation of this chapter shall be placed, or shall exist, and any architect, engineer, builder, contractor, agent, person or corporation employed in connection therewith and who may have assisted in the commission of any such violation shall be guilty of a separate offense and upon conviction thereof shall be fined as herein before provided.
(Ord. 2001-36, passed 11-13-01)