BRENHAM PLANNING & ZONING HEARS UPDATES ON SMALL AREA PLAN, IMPACT FEES
The Brenham Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday received new information about the city’s efforts to adopt a small area plan for the land encompassing the new Brenham Family Park and potentially implement impact fees.
City of Brenham Project Planner Shauna Laauwe said the small area plan’s project working group has met twice thus far and plans to meet again on August 10th. That same day, a town hall is scheduled for the public to view and learn more about the plan. A time is not finalized, but Laauwe said it will likely be in the evening at The Barnhill Center.
The small area plan is intended to cover potential uses, community needs and cost considerations for developing the combined 600 acres around the area west of the Brenham Business Center, south of Highway 290, north of the Brenham State Supported Living Center and east of Highway 36. The plan is being developed by Kendig Keast Collaborative.
After the town hall, a joint meeting between the Planning and Zoning Commission, Brenham City Council, Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Board and project working group is planned for September 18th. The meeting will be the final presentation of the small area plan before it goes to council for approval at its next regular meeting.
An online survey for the public to give thoughts on the plan is open through the end of June at https://cityofbrenham.org.
Discussion then shifted to the city’s research into adopting impact fees for water, sanitary sewer and streets. Impact fees are paid by developers to help the city finance infrastructure needed for new development and offset the tax burden on current residents. Development Services Director Stephanie Doland said the impact fee study being conducted by Strand Associates will likely come before the commission and the city council in February.
Doland said the process of adopting impact fees would include the creation of a Capital Improvements Advisory Committee, which would determine the results of the study and whether they should be utilized as part of a formal impact fee program, as well as enforcing the program if the city decides to move forward with it.
The committee will be appointed at the city council’s next regular meeting on July 13th and will include the entire Planning and Zoning Commission, along with other appointed members. Tentatively, the committee’s first meeting will be July 24th.
All consent agenda and regular session items for consideration were approved unanimously by the commission. Those included:
- A residential replat request from Edin and Martha Inestroza, who are looking to take undeveloped properties at the northeast corner of the intersection of Sabine and Clay Streets and develop 30 townhome lots on a total of 3.38 acres.
- A residential replat request from Artis Edwards Sr., who wished to subdivide a vacant 1.37-acre lot at 1310 Bridge Street into two tracts for single-family residential development. The reserve tract cannot be developed until an existing sewer line is moved and the tract is replatted from a reserve tract into a qualified lot.
- Preliminary and final plat requests from Ted and Rosa Dean for the El Jardin subdivision, combining existing unplatted tracts into one 12.23-acre lot at 302 Sweed Street for future development.
Click here to view the agenda packet for Monday's meeting.