PUBLIC MEETING FEBRUARY 5TH TO DISCUSS HISTORIC PRESERVATION ORDINANCE IN BRENHAM
The public is invited to an upcoming meeting to discuss the potential creation of a historic preservation ordinance for the city of Brenham.
The meeting will take place Wednesday, February 5th at 5:30 p.m. at the Nancy Carol Roberts Memorial Library.
Talks on the ordinance began last year, when resident Mary Thornhill gave a presentation at August’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. At that meeting, Thornhill said she had spoken to city officials and property owners in area cities that have preservation ordinances in place, and showed a video of her conversations with them discussing why having an ordinance is beneficial. She said the ordinance is not meant to be a set of restrictions, but rather a guideline for cities to preserve a historic look and feel.
Thornhill’s video will be shown at the meeting on February 5th. There will also be a presentation on preservation ordinances and the Certified Local Government Program of the Texas Historical Commission by Program Coordinator Lorelei Willett. A timeline for establishing an ordinance will also be discussed.
City of Brenham Tourism and Marketing Director Jennifer Eckermann said ordinances of this kind are typically enacted by local governments to preserve and protect historic landmarks that reflect distinctive and important elements of a community’s heritage.
Last year, Texas legislators passed into law House Bill 2439, which prevents municipalities from regulating building materials. Eckermann said, however, the law does not pertain to properties included in a historic preservation ordinance.
Eckermann said, after the meeting, a city plan will be shared on creating a committee to discuss how an ordinance would take shape in Brenham. She said the goal would be to have a plan to present for public input sometime this summer.
Looks like another unhappy person who moved to Brenham and is still is not happy. She wants to make changes since she obviously knows what is best for Brenham in 2020. Looks like the local born citizens are again going to be told how we will be forced to live since we’ve been doing it all wrong since the mid 1800’s.
Curious, you are right. As a city property tax payer, I and my family have paid taxes in this city of Brenham for my freedom to maintain my property in a good and decent way without people moving here to tell me what to do with my property. It seems here lately that people move here and want to make this town the way they want to, just by being a loud squeaky wheel. Then the squeaky wheels at city hall start turning. The squeaky wheels at city hall don’t even pay local city property taxes. If you are a squeaky wheel you need to keep rolling till you get to the city limits and just keep on going. The local local property tax payers are not going to grease your wheels so keep on rolling.
So, I’m wondering… with the law last year preventing municipalities from regulating building materials, would a new ordinance like this override the law because the town would not be “historically persevered”?
Seems like a way for the city to get around law personally. Can’t we simply preserve historical landmarks and the downtown area and let the rest of the tax payers do what they want with the land that they purchase and pay for in taxes every year?
I may be way off base, but this is how this article struck me.
Typo… I meant to say ” the town WOULD be “historically preserved”