PROPOSED NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESS DISTRICT TABLED

  

The Brenham City Council today (Thursday) voted to table the proposed creation of a Neighborhood Business District just south of downtown. The proposed new zoning district is planned to encourage development in an area that has seen increased interest in recent years.  During the public hearing portion of the council meeting, questions about parking were raised by the public.  Many of the lots in the district are either too small to accommodate the required parking or the building covers the entire property.  The proposed zoning change would give the owners the option of paying into a city fund the amount they would have used to build required parking and the city would then use that fund to build satellite public parking lots. Currently, onsite parking for downtown buildings is not required by the city.

Downtown developer Tommy Traylor stated that the proposed parking fees would discourage investment in the area and that if a property owner paid the fees, they would then start asking the city “where is my parking”. Councilmember Susan Cantey stated that the city needs to have the satellite parking areas planned and promised before setting up a fee for property owners to pay.  After some discussion, the council voted to table the Zoning Amendment and bring it back during a work session in 2 weeks.  City staffers will work on changing the wording to allow the parking fee portion of the amendment to be delayed until the city completes plans for satellite parking areas.