How should our HOA board respond to a rezoning or development proposal next to the neighborhood?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 29, 2026

How an HOA board reads a rezoning notice, votes on a position, files a protest petition and speaks at the hearing, with Texas, Colorado and Florida rules.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

Treat the notice as a deadline, because the legal minimums are short. In Texas, the city only has to mail notice to nearby owners 10 days before the zoning commission hearing. In Colorado, state law requires 15 days of published notice. In the time you have, the board should get the full application from the city, decide at an open meeting whether the association will take a position, tell owners what is proposed and how to comment on their own, and, if the board opposes the change, file written comments and look at a formal protest petition. The association speaks only through a board vote. Directors and owners who speak without one speak for themselves. Rules vary by state, by city and by your governing documents, and a large project is worth an hour with a land use attorney. This guide is general education, not legal advice.

Find out what was filed and when the hearings are

Texas Local Government Code 211.007(c) requires written notice of a zoning commission hearing on a proposed change, sent before the 10th day before the hearing to each owner of real property within 200 feet, using the latest municipal tax roll. If the association owns common area within 200 feet, the association gets that letter, at whatever address the tax roll shows. That is often a former treasurer or a management company you fired years ago. Check the mailing address the appraisal district has on every common area parcel this week, before you need it. Colorado's statute for statutory cities, C.R.S. 31-23-304, requires only newspaper notice at least 15 days before the hearing, and many Colorado cities are home-rule cities with their own codes. In Florida, section 166.041(3)(c) requires mailed notice only to the owners whose land is being rezoned, and 166.041(9) says the statute sets minimums, so notice to neighbors depends on city code. A Florida HOA next door may learn about the case from a sign on the fence. Once you know, call the planning department and ask for the case number, the staff planner's name, the application and site plan, any traffic or drainage study, the hearing dates for the planning commission and the council, and when the staff report will be posted. Then ask what the current zoning already allows. If the land is zoned for apartments today, a site plan for apartments may never reach a hearing.

Decide at an open meeting whether the association takes a position

Put the case on a board meeting agenda. In Texas, Property Code 209.0051(c) requires regular and special board meetings to be open to owners, and in Colorado, C.R.S. 38-33.3-308(2)(a) opens executive board meetings to all members. A quick survey before the vote is worth the week it costs, because owners rarely agree. Some want the grocery store. Others want no more traffic on the entry road. Our guide on how to survey HOA homeowners has question formats that work. The board has four choices: oppose, support, support with conditions, or take no position and simply make sure owners know how to be heard. Conditions often get further than flat opposition, because they give the planner and the developer something to say yes to. Typical asks are a masonry screening wall, a wider landscape buffer, no driveway onto your entry street, shielded lighting, and detention sized so runoff does not reach your pond. Check the declaration and bylaws before spending money on a lawyer or a traffic engineer, and budget for it like any other expense. Sample motion: 'Move that the association oppose zoning case [number] as filed, support it if the site plan adds [conditions], authorize [name], president, to sign written comments and any protest petition for the association's common area parcels, and designate [name] to speak for the association at the hearings, at a cost not to exceed $[amount].'

Protest petitions and the new Texas rule

A valid written protest forces the council to pass the change by a larger vote. Texas rewrote this rule in 2025. House Bill 24 added Local Government Code 211.0061, effective September 1, 2025. A protest now needs the signatures of the owners of at least 20 percent of the land covered by the change, or at least 20 percent of the land within 200 feet of it, and it triggers a three-fourths vote of all council members. If the change allows more residential development and does not add commercial or industrial use (beyond first-floor use capped at 35 percent of the project), the neighbor protest needs 60 percent of the land within 200 feet, and the change then needs only a majority of all members. The math counts land area, not homes. Streets and alleys count, and the percentage is figured across all tracts in the change together. Common area is land, so a board vote authorizing an officer to sign can add a large block of area in one signature. Ask the planner for the city's protest form and the 200-foot map. Texas also added 211.0065: a change that allows more residential development is conclusively presumed valid if nobody sues within 60 days after it takes effect. In Colorado, C.R.S. 31-23-305 requires a protest filed with the municipal clerk at least 24 hours before the council vote, signed by owners of 20 percent of the land in the change or 20 percent of the land within 100 feet of it, not counting intervening public streets and alleys. A valid protest means the change needs two-thirds of all council members. Florida's section 166.041 has no protest petition, so ask the clerk whether your city code adds one. Many older online articles still describe the pre-2025 Texas rule. Use the statute.

Written comments and testimony that get read

Send the board's written comments to the staff planner before the staff report comes out, not the night before the hearing. Keep them to one or two pages, attach the board's resolution, and number each concern. At the hearing, one person speaks for the association, reads the position and stays inside the time limit. Talk about things the commission can act on: traffic on named streets, drainage onto named lots, buffers, building height next to backyards, and whether the request fits the city's comprehensive plan. Arguments about property values alone tend to carry less weight. A statement a board can adapt: 'I am [name], president of [association], which owns [number] acres of common area within 200 feet of this site. On [date] our board voted to oppose this request as filed. We would support it with an eight-foot masonry wall along our shared line, no vehicle access from [street], and detention sized for the 100-year storm. We have filed written comments and a protest signed for our common area.' A director who speaks on a personal view should say so out loud. Planning commissions usually recommend, and the council decides, so show up at both hearings.

Tell owners without speaking for all of them

Owners have their own right to comment and, where they own land inside the protest area, their own signatures to give. Send one clear notice and let owners decide. Sample paragraph: 'A developer has asked the City of [name] to rezone the [acres] acres at [location] from [current zoning] to [proposed zoning], case [number]. The planning commission hearing is [date and time] and the council hearing is [date and time]. The board voted on [date] to [position]; the resolution is attached. You may comment in writing to [planner email] or in person at either hearing, whether or not you agree with the board. If your lot is within 200 feet of the site, you may also sign the protest petition, available from [name].' Post it on the website, email it, and put it on the bulletin board. If the case drags on for months, send short updates after each hearing. Our guide on how to hold an HOA town hall before an owner vote covers running a Q&A night, and the same format works when owners want to hear from the developer.

A sample timeline and the mistakes that cost boards the case

Day 0: the letter, sign or newspaper notice arrives. Days 1 to 3: the president calls the planner and gets the file. Days 4 to 7: the board sends a two-question owner survey and calls a special meeting. Around day 8: the board votes on its position and names a speaker. Days 8 to 12: owner notice goes out, written comments go to the planner, and volunteers collect protest signatures. Commission hearing: the association's speaker testifies. Before the council vote: the protest is filed (in Colorado, at least 24 hours before). Council hearing: the speaker testifies again. After approval in Texas, the 60-day clock in 211.0065 matters for any residential change. The same mistakes show up again and again. Boards never update the tax roll address and miss the letter. A director testifies 'for the HOA' without a vote. Volunteers count homes instead of acres on the protest. Boards fight a use the current zoning already allows. They skip the council hearing because the commission voted no, and the council approves it anyway. And Texas boards count on the old 20 percent rule for a residential project that now needs 60.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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