Zoning › State preemptions › Texas

Texas SB 840 — Multifamily By-Right on Commercial/Office/Retail/Warehouse/MU Parcels (TX)

Tracked preemption from the Texas overlay bundle.

Overview

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Effective
2025-09-01
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:TX
Other Texas preemptions
Texas SB 15 — Small Lot Deregulation
Primary-source summary
**Last reviewed**: April 2026 (roster corrected post-Wave-5 2026-04-19) **Activity level**: High — SB 840 is a major multifamily preemption

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

AND
  • city.population ≥ 150000
  • county.population ≥ 300000
  • parcel.base_zone_category ∈ {com, office, retail, warehouse, mu}

Preempted fields

26 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
base_districts[category=com].allowed_usesaddmultifamily_residential
base_districts[category=office].allowed_usesaddmultifamily_residential
base_districts[category=retail].allowed_usesaddmultifamily_residential
base_districts[category=warehouse].allowed_usesaddmultifamily_residential
base_districts[category=mu].allowed_usesaddmultifamily_residential
base_districts[category=com].max_units_per_acrefloor_at36≥36 du/ac OR city's highest allowed MF density, whichever is greater
base_districts[category=office].max_units_per_acrefloor_at36
base_districts[category=retail].max_units_per_acrefloor_at36
base_districts[category=warehouse].max_units_per_acrefloor_at36
base_districts[category=mu].max_units_per_acrefloor_at36
base_districts[category=com].max_height_ftfloor_at45≥45 ft OR jurisdiction's highest allowed height, whichever is greater
base_districts[category=office].max_height_ftfloor_at45
base_districts[category=retail].max_height_ftfloor_at45
base_districts[category=warehouse].max_height_ftfloor_at45
base_districts[category=mu].max_height_ftfloor_at45
base_districts[category=com].min_setback_ftcap_at25≤25 ft from any property line
base_districts[category=office].min_setback_ftcap_at25
base_districts[category=retail].min_setback_ftcap_at25
base_districts[category=warehouse].min_setback_ftcap_at25
base_districts[category=mu].min_setback_ftcap_at25
base_districts[category=com].parking_ratiocap_at1.0≤1 space per unit
base_districts[category=office].parking_ratiocap_at1.0
base_districts[category=retail].parking_ratiocap_at1.0
base_districts[category=warehouse].parking_ratiocap_at1.0
base_districts[category=mu].parking_ratiocap_at1.0
review_typewaive_discretionary—

Citation

Authority source
Texas SB 840 (88th Legislature)
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00840F.HTM

Research notes

Ministerial MF approval on commercial/office/retail/warehouse/MU parcels in cities with population ≥150,000 located in counties with population ≥300,000. Source .md lists qualifying cities (Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, El Paso, etc.) but also notes border cases where a city ≥150k may be in a county <300k — the county_population gate resolves this. Height floors (≥45 ft) on commercial parcels in Dallas/Austin/San Antonio may intersect FAA Part 77 / AICUZ airport surfaces — federal conflict check flagged.