Zoning & Planning Is Get Really, Really Wild, Ya’ll
It’s On! Grand Prairie is Taking the Lead in the Wild, Wild West of Zoning & Planning in Texas 2025!
Leigh Budlong — October 23, 2025
Bells are ringing as folks figure out just what happened during the 89th Legislative Session.
Welcome back to the Rodeo, Cowpokes!
The Drive Is Underway: In my last update, I mentioned Grand Prairie was planning to add some requirements to their zoning code.
Did ya hear that? Being THANKED for letting them know…
In one word, the October 14th city council meeting was a real hoedown with people practically running up to the podium to speak. Take a listen to this BIG THANK YOU from a resident.
You can read my latest blog on the cowboys and cowgirls gathering clouds and see a whole mess of videos click here.
I was jumping in my chair…
As I saw and heard that meeting unfold, I could not believe my ears (applause!) and yes (quick striding to the podium). Why I thought these people have heard and responded a real life “wake up” about the impacts of the SB840.
I even heard talk about those pesky special interest types…who’d have thought they have had a thing to do with this right? (I’ve been researching a bit and am putting a list together).
Anyway, if y’all are in a city with SB840 you may want to take a page out of the playbook and repeat what these brave cowboys and cowgirls did. In short, the bells is rung to “do something” about this overreaching, not fun, kinda-bill. Sure seems like folks want their property to be home, not just housing.
Can you blame ‘em? Well, their city council did pass a added level of barb wire fencing - like a fenced and cross fenced - read it and ask, “is my city doing something like this too?”
The Round-Up: Today’s Land Use & Zoning News
Austin Holds A Zoom. I’ve been waiting for this and a posting, posting and more posting the link to get ya’ll in Austin aware of SB80 and how City of Austin is interpreting it. Did ya make it on Tuesday to hear it all? If not, I did. Here’s a link to a snippet of the meeting. I’ll add a link to the complete, full blown meeting once it gets posted here on city site. Plus, I’ll do one of my “translations” as I must admit - and this is a friendly warning - the zoom gotta bit technical but then again, that’s Austin zoning for ya!
Federal funding is still getting yanked. HUD is still closed. The gov shutdown may other impacts down the trail. HUD and zoning are like two peas in a pod cause of the money ties, like a good watering well. You can’t have one without the other.
City of Dallas tabled their talk on HUD to December - it made for a short and sweet agenda item Z4. It looks pretty darn small at just $2,000,000 but I gotta feeling that is just part of the package.
The more I dig into the financing of housing, the more I go hmmm. Lots of money. Where’s the housing? I’m channeling the old woman in Wendy’s commercial Where the beef? More beef, less bun. I like that y’all!
Hold your ADU and tiny home horses! What’s this? Candy’s Dirt has an article on creative ways cities are addressing homeless and such. Now I happened to hear the HUD money item noted above being moved to December and slated - if I got this right - for this very committee mentioned in Candy’s article.
The committee is Dallas Housing & Homelessness Solutions Committee and it sure looks like housing and SB840 are together on this front. So the packaged solutions might be coming to a town near you.. I’ll be lookin into this. Read more
The “Special Interests Groups” were called out on October 14th in Grand Prairie by a former Legislator and speaking out as a resident of Grand Prairie. He calls out the billionaires behind SB840 “the co-founder of Paypal…” He knows, everyone in that room that night knows. Do you? Take a Listen.
