Horseshoe Bay officials decry new construction law's impact

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor

Horseshoe Bay city officials and Property Owners Association representatives expressed frustration with a new state law they say removes the city's authority to set more stringent community building standards.

House Bill 2439, which was co-sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, prohibits cities from denying building permits for homes as long as the materials used in construction, alteration, maintenance or renovation conform with one of the last three International Building or International Residential codes. Buckingham authored a companion bill in the Senate, SB 1266. . . .

Those appearing at the Tuesday, Oct. 15, Horseshoe Bay City Council meeting to discuss this measure disagreed with Buckingham's confidence the law will not have “unintended consequences.”

Mike Walsh, a developer who is on the Architectural Control Committee for The Trails at Lake LBJ, told council members the bill would be detrimental to Horseshoe Bay and his neighborhood's ability to enforce stronger construction and aesthetic standards. . . .

Find the rest of this story in the Tuesday, Oct. 22 issue of The Highlander, the newspaper of record for the Highland Lake. To offer a comment or news tip, email lew@highlandernews.com. To subscribe to the newspaper, call 830-693-4367 or click here to subscribe to our e-Edition online.