Control of colonias sought by counties

Control of colonias sought by counties
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau

AUSTIN -- County officials from across the state told lawmakers Wednesday that they need authority to regulate development in rural areas, a sentiment border officials dealing with colonias have echoed for years.

"Every session we've presented bills to try to give counties ordinance-making authority," said El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez.

In advance of the 2009 legislative session, the Texas Senate International Relations and Trade Committee was seeking input from local officials on ways to prevent substandard housing from cropping up in unincorporated areas.

It's a problem that has plagued border communities for decades. El Paso alone is home to nearly 300 colonias, and the Texas attorney general's office has data on about 2,000 substandard housing developments on the border.

But in recent years similar developments have begun sprouting in urban counties across the state as housing becomes more expensive in large cities.

John Henneberger, co-director of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, called them "non-border colonias." "The problem we have here is a lack of affordable housing," he said.

Counties have noordinance-setting authority and cannot enforce building codes or zoning restrictions to ensure that new homes and businesses are built to modern standards. Developers can buy land, build homes that do not meet typical standards and sell them cheaply.

"No one should be able move to the county in order to be able to escape minimum building codes and living standards," Henneberger said.

Some county officials told lawmakers they wanted to charge developers a fee to build in unincorporated areas.

Sarah Eckhardt, commissioner in Travis County, said counties needed to be able to plan for new developments, to provide adequate roads and to ensure quality water for residents.

"Local control is all we're asking for," she said.

Rodriguez, who was not at the meeting, said in a phone interview that border-specific, anti-colonia legislation approved in previous years has limited the growth of substandard developments in El Paso. But because counties have no regulatory authority, he said, incompatible industries and homes can be built near one another, giving rise to health and safety concerns.

"You have junkyards and scrap-metal businesses and burning facilities right next to residential areas," he said.

El Paso County Commissioner Miguel Terán said in a phone interview that counties face major expenses to later create roads and build infrastructure to accommodate substandard homes built in rural areas.

"There's a need to have some ordinance-making power," he said. "There's a need to have planning powers."
Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com;512-479-6606.