Sec. 212.902. SCHOOL DISTRICT LAND DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS. (a) This section applies to agreements between school districts and any municipality which has annexed territory for limited purposes.

(b) On request by a school district, a municipality shall enter an agreement with the board of trustees of the school district to establish review fees, review periods, and land development standards ordinances and to provide alternative water pollution control methodologies for school buildings constructed by the school district. The agreement shall include a provision exempting the district from all land development ordinances in cases where the district is adding temporary classroom buildings on an existing school campus.

(c) If the municipality and the school district do not reach an agreement on or before the 120th day after the date on which the municipality receives the district's request for an agreement, proposed agreements by the school district and the municipality shall be submitted to an independent arbitrator appointed by the presiding district judge whose jurisdiction includes the school district. The arbitrator shall, after a hearing at which both the school district and municipality make presentations on their proposed agreements, prepare an agreement resolving any differences between the proposals. The agreement prepared by the arbitrator will be final and binding upon both the school district and the municipality. The cost of the arbitration proceeding shall be borne equally by the school district and the municipality.

(d) A school district that requests an agreement under this section, at the time it makes the request, shall send a copy of the request to the commissioner of education. At the end of the 120-day period, the requesting district shall report to the commissioner the status or result of negotiations with the municipality. A municipality may send a separate status report to the commissioner. The district shall send to the commissioner a copy of each agreement between the district and a municipality under this section.

(e) In this section, "land development standards" includes impervious cover limitations, building setbacks, floor to area ratios, building coverage, water quality controls, landscaping, development setbacks, compatibility standards, traffic analyses, and driveway cuts, if applicable.

(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the applicability of or waive fees for fire, safety, health, or building code ordinances of the municipality prior to or during construction of school buildings, nor shall any agreement waive any fee or modify any ordinance of a municipality for an administration, service, or athletic facility proposed for construction by a school district.

Added by Acts 1990, 71st Leg., 6th C.S., ch. 1, Sec. 3.18, eff. Sept. 1, 1990.