BRENHAM PLANNING & ZONING TO DISCUSS NEW REGULATIONS ON DATA CENTERS, CAR WASHES

  

Brenham Planning and Zoning Commissioners will meet on Monday to provide input to city staff on potential amendments to the city’s code of ordinances.

The workshop session is expected to go through several topics, including multifamily developments, bufferyard standards, car washes and data centers.  No action will be taken.

The proposed amendments to be discussed would:

• Clarify minimum area lot requirements for multifamily developments in the R-2 Mixed Family Residential District and the Downtown Business/Residential Overlay District.
• Change landscape/bufferyard regulations by adding use categories and associated bufferyard requirements for townhome developments greater than two acres, office uses that are two stories or less, nonresidential uses both greater and less than an acre, and automobile-related services.
• Enact water-saving regulations for car washes via an update to plumbing code, requiring new car washes or existing car washes that undergo a large renovation to utilize water recycling systems.
• Define data centers in the zoning ordinance and list them as a specific use in the industrial zoning district – meaning proposed data centers would undergo a property-specific analysis and two public hearings – and prohibit the use of any water-based cooling technology, unless the water source is approved by the city and is not City of Brenham potable water.

During the regular session agenda, commissioners will act on a rezoning request from the city and the property owners of the Timber Oaks subdivision, asking that approximately 11.4 acres of land around Oak Tree Crossing Drive be rezoned from B-1 Local Business Mixed Use to R-1 Single-Family Residential Use.  Amid Blinn College’s plans to build a sports complex on vacant property to the south of the Timber Oaks neighborhood, property owners have requested rezoning to protect the area’s residential use.

Additionally, the commission will vote on a replat of 5.281 acres of vacant land on the east side of South Blue Bell Road and the west end of Oak Alley Boulevard.  The property owner, Eigentum Capital, LLC, is looking to develop the third phase of the Oak Alley subdivision.  City staff recommends approval of the replat request.

The commission will meet Monday at 5:15 p.m. at Brenham City Hall. 

Click here to view the agenda packet for Monday's meeting.