BRENHAM PLANNING AND ZONING RECOMMENDS UNDERGROUND UTILITIES THROUGH ALL DEVELOPMENT

  

The Brenham Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending that utilities go underground for all development.

Commissioners at their meeting Monday approved a recommendation to amend the city’s Code of Ordinances, requiring all development—both commercial and residential—to place all utilities underground.  The recommendation also calls for the amendment of assurances for completion of improvements.

The recommendation, which was made after a public hearing which had no comments from the public, will be considered by the Brenham City Council at a future meeting.

While the city ordinance currently only requires underground utilities within residential subdivisions, city officials told the council earlier this month they were considering a change due to the increase of both commercial and residential development.

Development Services Director Stephanie Doland clarified that this amendment would not do away with overhead electric lines entirely.  She said if a company was delivering power in a multi-phase format to a residential, retail, or industrial customer, overhead lines could still be used, with only the last line of the system going directly to the customer needing to be buried underground.  She said if this ordinance amendment were approved, residents may still see overhead electric throughout town, even in new development.

Doland said the ordinance is not retroactive for existing development.  The ordinance would apply to new development serviced by the City of Brenham and Bluebonnet Electric.

The ordinance amendment would also include a rewrite of the fiscal security provisions section of the ordinance, which details the required processes for a private developer to build public infrastructure within a subdivision.  Doland said this amendment would be more of a housekeeping item, providing additional clarification about the required processes and fiscal security options available.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the Commission:

• Approved a variance to allow a subdivision located in the city’s Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) to allow Tract One to have a lot size of 0.75 acres instead of the required 1 acre, and to allow Tract Two to have a front lot width of 25 feet at the road instead of the required 125 feet for property at 1093 South Berlin Road.
• Approved a request to replat part of the A.M. Lewis Addition to create the T.L. Division No.1 consisting of two tracts, one being 0.52 acres to be addressed off Matchett Street and another being 0.387 acres addressed off Burleson Street. The proposed plat also includes a 0.011 acre dedicated public right-of-way strip along the east property line of the 0.387 acre tract.  The public right-of-way dedication will allow for the future widening of Burleson Street as indicated in the city’s Thoroughfare Plan.