Replatting is not by itself a noticed action in Houston. What triggers notice under Sec. 42-49(a) is the restriction history of the land: notice to adjacent owners is required if any lot in any preceding plat was limited — by deed restrictions, separately filed restrictions, or plat restrictions — to single-family residential use, or restricted to residential use for not more than two single-family units per lot.
Note how far back that reaches. It is "any lot in any preceding plat," not the immediately preceding one, so a restriction several plats ago still pulls a replat into this section.
Sec. 42-49(b) supplies the single exit: if the plat that created the single-family restriction was itself replatted in its entirety for some other lawful use and the restrictions were removed by that replat, notice is not required.
A noticed replat carries more publication obligation than any other plat in the chapter, and most of it falls on the applicant.
Published notice. Sec. 42-49(d) requires the applicant to publish notice of the hearing at least 20 days beforehand in a newspaper of general circulation in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery Counties — all three named in the section — and to file an affidavit of publication with the department before the commission takes the plat up. Publication happens only after the director authorises it, which follows the commission setting the hearing date.
Sec. 42-83 notice on top. Sec. 42-49(e) requires the ordinary application notification as well — the director’s mailing to owners within 300 feet and to council offices and neighbourhood organisations, plus the applicant’s posted signs.
The affidavit. Sec. 42-49(c)(1) is not notice to anyone but it is filed with the same package: a sworn statement that the replat does not disturb separately recorded covenants or deed restrictions, or any public utility easement without the utility’s consent.
Sec. 42-84 is the provision neighbours reach for, and it is narrower than its reputation. The heightened vote applies only where the proposed replat requires a variance or special exception and is protested. A replat that complies with the chapter on its own terms is outside Sec. 42-84 entirely, however much opposition it attracts.
Where it does apply, the effect is a supermajority: at least three-fourths of the members present must vote in favour. Sec. 42-84(d) removes even that where the area to be replatted was already designated or reserved for something other than single-family use by notation on the last recorded plat or in the recorded restrictions.
To constitute a legal protest, written instruments signed by the owners of at least 20 percent of the area of the lots or land immediately adjoining the area covered by the proposed replat and extending 200 feet from that area, but within the original subdivision plat limited by the deed or plat restrictions to single family residential use, must be filed with the commission prior to the close of the public hearing.
The threshold is measured in land area, not in households, and three details decide whether a given petition clears it.
The ring is 200 feet from the area covered by the proposed replat, measured from land immediately adjoining it.
Only land inside the original restricted subdivision counts. The section limits qualifying land to that "within the original subdivision plat limited by the deed or plat restrictions to single family residential use." A neighbour 100 feet away but in a different original subdivision is not part of the calculation.
Streets and alleys are included. Sec. 42-84(c) says so expressly. Because that area is in the denominator and no one can sign for it, paved right-of-way inside the ring makes the 20 percent materially harder to reach than counting house lots would suggest.
And it is a deadline as much as a threshold: the written instruments must be filed before the close of the public hearing. A protest assembled afterwards is not a legal protest.
Separate from notice, Sec. 42-193 limits what a partial replat may do to the plat restrictions themselves — and the limits are asymmetric in a way that surprises people.
If the subdivision plat contains no lots restricted to residential use, Sec. 42-193(b) lets a replat amend any plat restriction on the preceding plat. Once residential restrictions are present, Sec. 42-193(c) takes over and the routes narrow sharply.
Two structural points before the table. First, Sec. 42-193(a) applies these rules to each subsequent replat as though it were the first, so you cannot reach a prohibited result in two steps. Second, they govern partial replats only — a replat of all the property in the original plat by all of its current owners is outside the section.
| Existing plat restriction | May be amended to permit |
|---|---|
| Residential / single-family | Landscape, park, recreation, drainage or open space only |
| Nonresidential | Any more specific nonresidential use; single-family only if typical lot size is not less than the preceding plat’s or the property abuts a major thoroughfare; multi-family only on proof of multi-family improvement and use before April 3, 1999 |
| Commercial | Any more specific commercial use; single-family and multi-family on the same terms as nonresidential above |
| Drainage, water plant, wastewater, lift station or similar utility | Landscape, park, recreation, drainage, open space or similar amenity; or single-family only if typical lot size is not less than the preceding plat’s |
Sec. 42-193(b)-(c), for partial replats. A residential restriction is the hardest to move: there is no route from single-family to commercial or multi-family through a partial replat.
City approval is not a deed-restriction clearance. Sec. 42-49(c)(1) requires the applicant to affirm by affidavit that the replat does not amend, remove or violate — or have the effect of doing so — any covenant or restriction in a separately recorded instrument or deed restriction. An approved plat is not a defence to a suit on one, and the affidavit is not a clearance: the holder can still sue, and under Chapter 10 article XV the city has its own powers over a recorded restriction inside the city limits — see deed restriction enforcement. This page describes the city’s replat process only.
This is how the code reads; confirm with the city — or ask a builder who's actually pulled this permit in Houston. The authoritative text is the Houston Code of Ordinances; permitting questions go to Houston Permitting Center.