By Justin Golbabai, Planning Administrator
Have you ever wondered why even new neighborhoods in College Station have so many trees? Or how commercial properties can be compatible with adjacent residential neighborhoods?
The city’s Unified Development Ordinance governs the development of land in College Station and to an extent, within our 3½-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction. The UDO’s purpose is to promote your health, safety, and general welfare.
College Station’s UDO is under review, and changes could be on the way to create more flexibility for development in our growing city.
A pair of public meetings on Wednesday, Aug. 30 at College Station City Hall (1101 Texas Ave.) will provide residents and developers two opportunities to provide input about possible UDO revisions. The first meeting will be from noon-1:30 p.m. A second meeting covering the same material will be from 5-6:30 p.m.
The meetings will focus on these topics:
- Suburban Commercial Zoning Districts: How to increase the development viability of the Suburban Commercial zoning district in a way that’s compatible with surrounding neighborhoods.
- Non-Residential Landscaping Requirements: Feedback on the city’s landscaping requirements, including streetscaping and buffer standards, and on ways to provide more options to conserve water.
- Requirements for Redeveloping Non-Conforming Properties: How to provide more flexibility to redevelop properties that don’t comply with the UDO.
- Streamlining the Preliminary Plan Process: How we can effectively streamline the preliminary plan process.
For more information, contact me at 979-764-3826 or jgolbabai@cstx.gov.
Planning Administrator Justin Golbabai has been with the City of College Station since 2016. He previously served the City of Austin for nine years in various capacities, most recently as neighborhood partnering program manager. Justin has also worked for the cities of Savannah (Ga.) and Overland Park (Kan.). A native of Windsor, Conn., he received a master’s in public administration from the University of Kansas in 2006, and a bachelor’s in economics and sociology from Notre Dame in 2004.
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