What is a zoning variance?
Every lot in a city has a zoning designation — a set of rules about what can be built on it and how close, how tall, and how much of the lot can be covered. A zoning variance is a formal request by a property owner to deviate from one of those rules: a smaller setback, an extra foot of height, more lot coverage than allowed, or sometimes a use that isn't normally permitted. The city must rule on every variance in a public hearing, because neighbors have a legal right to weigh in before the rules are bent.
Why municipalities post them publicly
Texas municipal code — and most state-level codes — requires these hearings to be public record. The city's job is to give notice so adjacent and nearby residents can show up, submit written protest, or hand a 3-minute public comment to the Planning & Zoning Commission. In practice, the municipality mails formal notice only to properties within a 200-foot radius of the subject lot. If you live at 250 feet, you are not on the city's mailing list — even though a six-foot fence variance right next door may directly affect your property. Publication in the newspaper-says-legal-notice column satisfies the city's obligation. Nothing more.
How Project Nearby alerts you
Project Nearby closes the 200-foot notice gap with continuous, automated monitoring. Every new variance filing pulled from city records becomes a candidate for an email alert — but only for the subscribers whose address sits inside the filing's radius. The free tier covers a single one-time address search. The premium tier ($4.99/mo) is what turns on the always-on 6-hour scan and the radius-based email alerts. Three steps, in order:
-
1
Scrape. Every 6 hours, the platform pulls new filings from Round Rock Cityworks, Round Rock ArcGIS, Austin Permits, Austin Zoning, Cedar Park Permits, and the Williamson County fallback. The cadence matches the live "Synced 4× daily" copy on the landing page.
-
2
Match. For each new filing, every active premium member's saved lat/lng is checked against the filing's lat/lng. Distances outside the member's set radius are skipped.
-
3
Claim & send. The
alerts_sentdedup row is claimed through anINSERT … ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING. Wins only fire once per (member, filing) — replays and scraper re-runs cannot re-page the same homeowner. The email is sent through the platform's outbound email proxy only on a winning claim.
A new permit was just filed near your address. Filing: 100 Oak Meadow Dr, Round Rock, TX 78664 Source: Round Rock Zoning Distance: 0.32 mi Type: Variance — Setback Status: Pending Hearing View it on your dashboard: https://example.test/dashboard?address=100%20Oak%20Meadow%20Dr%2C%20Round%20Rock%2C%20TX%2078664