Mesquite | Plats, Permits and Fees

Mesquite Plats, Permits, Impact Fees and Development Fees

A plat is the recorded map that creates legal lots. In Mesquite, a building permit in a subdivision needs an approved plat first. This page covers the plat steps in the Subdivision Ordinance, the replat rules when lots get smaller, park land, impact fees, and the fee schedule the City Council updated through Ordinance No. 5274, in force since October 1, 2026. The Mesquite overview gives the short version.

How a Plat Moves Through the City

Article III of the Subdivision Ordinance, rewritten by Ordinance No. 5082 in November 2023, follows the state plat rules in Local Government Code chapter 212. The steps:

• Before filing. A self-survey and a pre-application meeting are recommended, and the meeting "does not constitute the filing of an application." The meeting costs $150, with no charge for an infill single-family lot.
• Filing. An application must include everything on the City's Plat Checklist and the fee. It counts as submitted when entered on the City's Online Application Portal "before 3 p.m. on a business day."
• Who decides. "The Director shall review and make a decision on all plats except for those requiring a public hearing," and the Planning and Zoning Commission decides those.
• The 30-day rule. "The Director or Commission shall make a decision within 30 days after the date the application is considered officially filed," and "A plat is approved by the City unless it is disapproved within the 30-day time period."
• Conditions and denials. Each condition or reason must cite the law behind it, and staff sends it in writing by the end of the next business day. The applicant may answer with a Response Review Application, which the City must decide within 15 days; a response that meets every condition or reason is deemed approved if the City does not disapprove it in time.
• Extensions. The 30 days may be extended in periods of up to 30 days by written agreement, and "The City may not request or require an applicant to waive a deadline."

Art. III(J)(2) makes the plat a condition of the permit: "no building permit may be issued for any building, structure, or improvement located within a subdivision" until the plat is approved, required land is dedicated, and required improvements are provided for. The City "shall not extend or connect any street lighting, water service, or sanitary sewer service" to unplatted land. Residential accessory structures need no plat.

A plat may be approved with conditions such as building public improvements to the City's Engineering Design Manual, a flood study, engineering plans or a traffic impact analysis. Under Chapter 11, building in a floodplain needs a development permit, and the owner pays the review cost of any flood study, deposited before review starts (Sec. 11-148).

Replats and Amending Plats

A replat redraws lots on land already platted. Under Art. III(K), a replat is a residential replat "if any of the area proposed for replatting was limited to residential use for not more than two residential units per lot or any lot was deed restricted for same within the preceding five years." For residential replats, the City publishes notice before the 15th day before the hearing and mails notice to the owners in the original subdivision within 200 feet, postmarked at least 15 days before the meeting.

If the residential replat needs a variance and is protested 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," the Mesquite text requires "the affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of all members of the Commission." Local Government Code 212.015(c) sets the same 20 percent land test but requires three-fourths "of the members present." The two differ, and the statute controls. Both include streets and alleys in the land area. When a residential replat needs no variance, Section 212.015(f) has the City mail notice of the approval to owners within 200 feet in the original subdivision within 15 days after approval.

An amending plat is a simpler path for small fixes, decided by the Director with no notice. Under Art. III(M) it may, among other things, relocate lot lines between adjacent lots when all owners join and the number of lots does not rise, or "create six or fewer lots" in a residential improvement area if zoning is not affected and no covenants are removed. Every amending plat must carry the note "This plat does not increase the number of lots in the previously recorded subdivision nor attempt to alter or remove existing deed restrictions or covenants, if any, on this property." A subdivision variance goes to the Commission, which must find special conditions on the land, and the plat must follow within two years (Art. III(O)).

Park Land and Park Fees

Article VI applies to "all new residential or hotel/motel development." The land required is "one acre per 55 residential units, or portion thereof." The City Council decides whether the owner gives land, pays a fee in lieu, or both. The fee equals "the average value of land in the Park Service Area," taken from the certified tax roll of January 1 each year from "the applicable central appraisal district," applied to the land that would have been given. In Mesquite that is the Dallas or Kaufman County appraisal district, depending on the lot. So the fee changes each year and by area, and the code sets no single dollar figure.

• A plat or replat that creates "four (4) or fewer new single-family or duplex residential lots" pays the fee, with no land option.
• For houses and duplexes, "One-half of the required payment shall be made prior to the filing of the plat," and the rest is split evenly among the homes and paid with each building permit.
• For apartments and hotels, the fee is due before building permits.
• "A replat that does not increase the number of single-family or duplex residential lots" is exempt.
• Fees not spent within 10 years after 95 percent of the certificates of occupancy are issued can be refunded on a written request made within one year.

Impact Fees

An impact fee is a one-time charge on new development to pay for the water, sewer and road capacity it uses. Mesquite sets them in Chapter 7.5 under Local Government Code chapter 395, based on its 2015 study as updated in 2022. Schedule 1 lists the maximum the City could charge, and Schedule 2 lists the lower "Collection Rates" it does charge:

Source: Mesquite Code of Ordinances on municode, Supplement 71, Chapter 7.5, Schedules 1 and 2 and Tables 1 and 2 (2022 update).

A 5/8-inch meter is one service unit; a 1-inch meter is 2.5 units. Table 2 sets the roadway fee by land use, with a different maximum in each of three service areas but one collected rate for all of them. By VanPlex arithmetic, a new house with a 5/8-inch meter pays $3,879.50, $2,904.50 and $3,108, or $9,892 in all. Table 2 has no duplex row; ask the City which roadway category it applies to a duplex.

Timing follows Sec. 7.5-9. For land platted after the fees began, the maximum fee is fixed at final plat approval; for unplatted land, at the building permit or utility connection. "No impact fees shall be assessed for development on any lot governed by an approved final plat for single-family residential development filed prior to the initial adoption of impact fees on March 1, 1997." The City's Impact Fees page says "impact fees are assessed and invoiced with the Building Permit." In January 2026 the Council hired Kimley-Horn and Associates to prepare a Roadway Impact Fee Study Update for $164,000; no new roadway rates had been adopted by October 5, 2026.

Fees in Force Since October 1, 2026

The fee schedule is Appendix D of the City Code. The codified text on municode is older than the current fees: on September 21, 2026, the Council passed Ordinance No. 5274, with the fees in its Exhibit A in force from October 1, 2026, and it also reauthorized "any building permit fees and all other fees" under Local Government Code 214.908, which ends a building permit fee 10 years after adoption unless the Council holds a hearing and votes again. The signed ordinance shows each change with old amounts struck out; the figures below are the new ones.

Source: City of Mesquite Ordinance No. 5274, Exhibit A, Appendix D, Articles XII and XIV, signed copy in the City Secretary's archive.

The building permit section also lists an emergency notification fee of $100, an emergency services fee of $1,000 and a technology fee of $200, without saying which permits they attach to; ask the Building Inspection Division before you budget. The schedule uses "infill" for a lower building permit ($950), plat fee ($300) and engineering review ($300) but does not define the word, so confirm in writing whether your lot qualifies. A new Sec. 12-173 lets the City charge the cost of an outside consultant's review in addition to any application fee.

Two monthly charges follow the homes once built. The drainage utility charge is $6.00 per month for each single-family home (Appendix D, Sec. 4-100, under Sec. 11-42). And where the land is in a public improvement district, or PID, owners pay yearly assessments for the improvements; under Sec. 11-913 a homebuilder there must disclose the PID on any MLS® listing and show the assessment in price brochures.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Mesquite overview, Texas property tax and financing 2 to 4 units.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)