Mayor Chris Watts moved closer to fulfilling a campaign promise Tuesday when he received council support to explore a possible moratorium on apartment development in Denton.
Watts鈥� request comes as the city has more than two dozen multifamily projects in the works, with 29 in development or under construction, according to the city鈥檚 .
Watts wants the City Council to have a conversation about apartment development in Denton and stresses that a moratorium is only temporary.
One of the questions that Watts said would be addressed at a future council work session: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 happened in the last five years?鈥�
鈥淟et鈥檚 just have a conversation,鈥� Watts told council members during Tuesday鈥檚 special-called meeting. 鈥淚s this something we want to do? ... So that鈥檚 my pitch, to really try to have some time where we can discuss this in a very comprehensive and deliberative way, instead of just out there amongst the community.鈥�
Council members directed city staff to move forward with the work session item.
District 3 council member Suzi Rumohr reminded council members that they received a housing toolkit update from the staff on Friday, showing that 鈥渂ecause we do have a surplus of apartments, we are starting to see rents fall.鈥�
鈥淏ecause the rents are failing right now, generally that means development starts to slow down because things stop making financial sense for development,鈥� said Rumohr.
District 4 council member Joe Holland said the proposed moratorium 鈥渃onjures up a lot of questions.鈥�
Those questions, he said, include: 鈥淲hat is multifamily? Is a duplex multifamily?鈥� 鈥淲hat about the guy that owns property that wants to do this? All these other people have had the opportunity to do their project and now, arbitrarily, we say you can鈥檛 do it.鈥�
Holland wasn鈥檛 opposed to the discussion.
鈥淏ut I wonder if we have the legal authority to tell people that despite the fact that their property is zoned properly, you can鈥檛 build on it,鈥� he said.
Place 6 council member Jill Jester said she was willing to have the conversation.
鈥淚 think the rents are falling. I think we do have more of a supply. We鈥檙e also more affordable than a lot of other areas in our DFW area,鈥� Jester said. 鈥淗owever, I think we do need to have a real look at what our ecosystem is when it comes to housing. We need more, I think, on the far edges: the really, really affordable and then also some of the higher-end homes so that we attract that and create jobs and create sales tax here.鈥�
Although rents 鈥渉ave cooled somewhat between 2024 and 2025,鈥� staff pointed out that they still 鈥渉ave remained unaffordable for a large portion of renting households in Denton,鈥� according to the .
鈥淎 resident working full time must earn $22 an hour to afford the median one-bedroom rent in Denton.鈥�
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.
Since a new state law took effect last year, it has gotten more difficult for local governments to implement a temporary moratorium on apartment development in Texas.
requires cities to follow lengthier notice and hearing procedures, with a new heightened voting threshold and stricter limits on a moratorium鈥檚 duration and renewal, according to the Texas Municipal League.
Co-authored by state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, who represents part of Denton County, HB 2559 requires cities to hold two public hearings separated by at least 30 days before a city council can adopt a moratorium on apartment development.
Announcements about the public hearings must be published in a newspaper 30 days before the hearing.
Denton within 12 days after the second public hearing and give the ordinance two readings separated by at least 28 days, according to the Texas Municipal League.
To pass the moratorium also requires three-fourths vote of all council members on the second reading for it to take effect.
The moratorium can last only 90 days unless the council votes to extend it, although no moratorium can remain in effect for more than 180 days in aggregate, according to the league.
Extending the moratorium would require a new public hearing.
The Texas Municipal League reports that the state also requires written findings that identify the problem that requires the extension, describe the progress to address it and specify a definite renewal period, and show that the problem鈥檚 resolution will occur during the extended period.
鈥淯nlike the prior system, where a temporary moratorium could take effect just four days after initial council action, the new extended notice and waiting periods mean a moratorium will take at least about ninety days to take effect following publication of the initial hearing notice,鈥� the league鈥檚 report says.
Which means it could be next year before a moratorium could take effect. The Denton council begins budget discussions next month.
CHRISTIAN McPHATE can be reached at 940-220-4299 and cmcphate@dentonrc.com.
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