Details

Title	Code of Ordinances City of San Antonio, Texas
Highlights	Impact fees increase the cost of building afforable housing.   The City of San Antonio may waive a portion of the impact fees for projects that provide affordable housing.                       Areas on the fringe of cities are often the site of suburban growth even though the areas may lack the planning resources of a major city.   The City of San Antonio allows annexation of outside areas in order to share its planning resources and manage growth.                       Manufactured housing is not widely accepted as a form of affordable housing outside of manufactured housing parks.   The City of San Antonio allows manufactured housing outside of manufactured housing parks when it conforms to certain specifications.
Description	The City of San Antonio recognizes the need for affordable housing. To that end, the city’s code contains provisions for specific districts for manufactured homes (Section 35-3077). The purpose of this ordinance is to both provide a suitable location for a manufactured house and to provide protection for the manufactured houses and the surrounding community. Manufactured houses are allowed outside of the preset districts if they conform to certain specifications. The HUD-code manufactured houses must be installed on a permanent foundation and have a width of no less than 20 feet. The homes must have a sloping roof and 6-inch eave projections and use materials similar to ones used in site-built houses. The city council may on a case-by-case basis provide an impact fee reduction of up to 100 percent for an affordable housing development in order to promote economic development and facilitate the production of affordable housing. This incentive complements the city’s policy of granting impact fee reduction to other types of projects in order to promote economic development. (Sections 35-5041 and 35-5042) Section 35-2222 discusses the annexation of areas beyond the city's boundaries that are facing development pressures. One of the goals of annexation is to manage growth and the provision of municipal services. The annexation of outside areas allows the City of San Antonio to share its planning resources and is considered by the city as a good use of its efforts invested in developing the planning resources. The city elucidates the reasons behind annexation: "Annexation also provides a means for San Antonio to avoid a dwindling tax base. Unlike many states, Texas municipalities have considerable authority to annex adjacent unincorporated areas. And there is a very good reason for this. In parts of the nation where cities are unable to annex, there is a tendency for those who can afford to do so to escape city taxes and problems in favor of the suburbs. The result is that such cities are abandoned to their poorer citizens, with their needs growing while their resources diminish. While inner city housing ages and depreciates in value, new housing occurs primarily on the city fringe, primarily outside of the city limits. Commercial and industrial centers then follow the population trend away from the center city. Without annexation, San Antonio could be faced with decreasing rather than increasing resources."
Publication Date	2002
Organization	City of San Antonio, Texas
Web Location	http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=11508&sid=43

Notice: The contents of this record reflect the views of the author and/or promulgating municipality, and should not be construed as representing the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or U.S. HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research. No attempt has been made by U.S. HUD or its contractors to verify the accuracy, currency, or validity of the record contents presented herein.