Home repair program could help you beat the heat
By David Brower, Community Development Analyst
As heat ripples dance across the street, neighborhood kids fry an egg on the sidewalk. You dread climbing into your car because you know it will feel like an oven, and the seatbelt will be scorching.
It’s blazing hot this week with no end in sight. The extended forecast shows one triple-digit day after another.
Just when you think it can’t get worse, you realize your air conditioner has trouble keeping up, especially during the hottest hours. You raise your hand to the nearest ceiling vent, but your heart sinks when you feel warm air.
Your AC has gone out, and you can’t bear staying a minute more in your stifling home.
Then, the HVAC technician says your system must be replaced. You call another company, and they tell you the same thing. As the owner of an older home, you’ve faced a lot of expensive repairs in recent years, and you certainly can’t afford a new HVAC system.
Mopping sweat from your brow, you fret about what to do next.
The City of College Station’s Minor Home Repair Program may be able to help. Income-qualified homeowners in the city limits may be eligible for a grant of up to $7,500 to address an emergency health or safety issue.
The income limits are higher than you might expect and are based on household size. A family of two can earn up to $43,050 a year and still qualify. A family of four can make up to $53,800.
For more information, call Community Services at 979-764-3778 or visit cstx.gov/housingassistance.
About the Blogger
David Brower has been a community development analyst for the City of College Station since 2008. He is a 2008 graduate of Texas A&M.
Photo Copyright: cylonphoto / 123RF Stock Photo
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Volunteer to help spruce-up McCulloch on April 14
By Raney Whitwell, Code Enforcement Officer
We hear a lot about neighborhood integrity these days, but that vague term means different things to different people. For a code enforcement officer such as me, it means making a neighborhood the best it can be for its residents.
That’s why we came up with the idea of neighborhood integrity days, where we organize volunteers from local churches and non-profits to spruce up our community’s older neighborhoods with improved landscaping and routine maintenance. We invite you or your organization to participate in our inaugural Neighborhood Integrity Day for the McCulloch subdivision from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 14.
Located across from the Lincoln Recreation Center on Holleman Drive, McCulloch is College Station’s oldest neighborhood — and one of our most historically significant.
This volunteer day is the perfect opportunity for individuals, youth groups, faith-based organizations, and other non-profit service groups and agencies to serve their community in a positive, substantial way. Our ultimate goal is to build meaningful relationships while enhancing neighborhood pride.
You can help by volunteering, recruiting others to participate, or donating money or supplies. Your group has the option of adopting a home in the neighborhood and supplying the labor and some of the materials needed for cleaning siding, painting, repairing fences, planting flowers or shrubs, removing brush, and a host of other activities.
The possibilities are virtually endless.
We’ll also provide free mosquito dunks to residents and have booths set up on Nevada Street to distribute useful information about city programs and services, including homeowner assistance, crime prevention, pet care, recycling, parks and recreation, and much more.
You can donate money through Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity and can contribute materials such as mulch, soil, plants and other supplies by contacting me at 979-764-3829 or rwhitwell@cstx.gov. I can let you know what items we still need and make convenient pick-up or drop-off arrangements.
The McCulloch spruce-up day is the first of its kind in College Station. We hope its success leads lead to similar events in our other historic neighborhoods in the future. Help us make our neighborhoods the best they can be!
About the Blogger
Raney Whitwell is in her third year with the City of College Station and has been a code enforcement officer since 2016.
Photo Copyright: wavebreakmediamicro/123RF Stock Photo
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Beware opportunists taking advantage of hail damage
By Brian Binford, Planning & Development Services Building Official
Weather-rated calamities seem to bring out the best in most folks. We saw that up close when Hurricane Harvey devastated the Texas coast last summer.
Unfortunately, these situations can bring out the worst in a few people, too.
While Sunday’s hailstorm certainly wasn’t a large-scale disaster, it did enough damage to set opportunists and scammers in motion. An elderly College Station resident received a suspicious call this morning from a roofing company that offered to evaluate her home for damage.
If you get such a call, check with the Better Business Bureau to make sure the company is legitimate and has a good reputation.
Roofing contractors must be registered with the City of College Station and are required to obtain a building permit to roof or replace shingles and decking on residences. Homeowners who do the work themselves don’t need to register as a contractor, but they must apply for a permit before construction.
To obtain a permit, click here or contact Planning & Development Services at 979-764-3570.
About the Blogger
Brian Binford is a certified building official and has been with the City of College Station since 2008. He’s a graduate of Sam Houston State.
Photo Copyright: studiodin/123RF Stock Photo
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How to avoid the aggravation of parking tickets
By Eric Chapman, Community Services District Supervisor
Getting a parking ticket is never fun, and it’s always frustrating. It can also cost you a ton of cash – as much as $520 for violations related to handicap parking.
Most parking tickets are issued for violations of local parking ordinances, which are civil offenses. In some cases, you can also be cited for breaking state laws, which are criminal violations under the Texas Transportation Code.
A parking ticket won’t affect your driving record unless you ignore it, throw it away or put it in your glove compartment and forget about it. Failing to deal with a ticket promptly can have serious consequences — including expensive fines – and can result in your vehicle being booted, towed, and impounded. In some cases, you can even lose your driving privileges.
Parking problems always exist in growing communities, especially college towns expanding as quickly as College Station. Most of the time, avoiding the headache of a parking violation is as simple as reading and obeying parking signs.
Our goal is to keep our residential streets safe and accessible for everyone – especially emergency vehicles – while making your parking experience as hassle-free as possible.
The photo montage below illustrates the most common parking mistakes we see in College Station.
For additional information or to check on local parking ordinances, call 979-764-6313.
About the Blogger
Eric Chapman is in his ninth year with the city’s Community Service’s Department and has been a district supervisor since 2013. He worked for Tarrant County from 2005-08 and was a federal correctional officer in Warkworth, Ontario, from 1997-2005. He graduated with honors from Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, in 1996.
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Game day parking doesn’t have to be a hassle
By Julie Caler, Code Enforcement Supervisor
For football fans, following your favorite team for a road game can be tricky. With tens of thousands of fans descending on a relatively small area, finding a place to park can be daunting.
That’s certainly the case in College Station.
Visitors understandably want to park as close to Kyle Field as possible, and that creates challenges for our guests and residents, especially in the Southside neighborhood. Making sure everyone abides by our city parking ordinances is a major test for city staff, too.
The laws are designed to ensure that our streets and neighborhoods are safe, which means emergency vehicles can respond if needed, and cars are kept off the grass to prevent fires, broken meters, broken gas lines, or other problems. The College Station Police Department, Code Enforcement, and the Northgate District staff work together to provide a safe environment for you on game day.
Street Parking
Many of the streets in the Southside area were developed years ago and are exceptionally narrow. Police officers will be looking for vehicles parked facing traffic, blocking a fire hydrant, parking too close to a traffic control device such as stop sign, blocking intersections, and parking in a no parking zone, to name a few. You also can’t directly block a driveway, but that doesn’t mean you can’t park across the street.
Some of these are violations of state law, and a few are towable offenses. If you are parked illegally in certain areas, your vehicle will likely be towed. If you discover your vehicle has been towed, call the Police Department’s non-emergency number at 979-764-3600.
Yard Parking
Code Enforcement Staff will be actively looking for vehicles parking in yards. We discourage residents from illegally selling parking spots on their property. If we find a vehicle parked in the yard, we issue a warning to the resident in person and with a letter. If it’s a rental property, we also inform the property owner and management company.
If the violation happens again on another game day, we may issue a citation or court summons for the property owner and resident. If you have any questions about this or any other city ordinance, call Code Enforcement at 979-764-6363.
Northgate Parking
The Northgate District provides numerous safe and affordable parking options, including the Northgate Parking Garage, which is just a short walk to Kyle Field. The special game day rate is $25. If you park in the garage, you don’t have to worry about parking in the wrong place or being towed.
We also have limited parking available on certain Northgate streets and in the surface parking lot. The game day rate for both options is $3.50 an hour and is applicable from 6 a.m. Saturday until 3 a.m. Sunday.
For more information about the Northgate Parking Garage, including the availability of parking spaces, call 979-764-6313.
For general questions about parking or Code Enforcement, please feel free to contact me at 979-764-6363 or jcaler@cstx.gov.
Game Day Information
Here are some maps and other information that we hope will move you around town as quickly as possible on Aggie game days:
- Northgate Parking
- Live Traffic, Pre-Paid Parking (Destination Aggieland app >>)
- Kyle Field Game Day
- Kyle Field Clear Bag Policy
- Shuttle Routes
- Where to Park
- Best Postgame Traffic Routes
- Tailgating in Aggieland
- Aggie Fan Zone
- RV Parking at Tarrow Park
Gig ‘em, Aggies!
About the Author
Code Enforcement Supervisor Julie Caler has been with the City of College Station for 18 years.
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Podcast: Couch on the roof, goat in the driveway — the world of Code Supervisor Julie Caler
By Jay Socol, Public Communications Director
College Station Code Enforcement Supervisor Julie Caler makes her first appearance on the podcast and explains how she and her crew work to keep the city looking good. Sometimes, that means dealing with some odd or difficult situations.
In this episode, we cover topics ranging from parking and trash violations to hoarders and goats.
Total run time: 24:30
00:00 — Show open.
00:45 — What exactly do you and your staff do?
02:07 — Code used to be proactive, then reactive — now what are you?
03:53 — Most-common code issues in College Station?
04:45 — Why no parking in the grass?
06:25 — Most-egregious issues related to trash?
08:25 — How much of a problem is parking in yards?
09:23 — What are your Texas A&M home football game days like?
10:28 — Open storage is…fun? Bedroom suites on the roof??
13:00 — What about issues in back yards?
14:25 — Boats, trailers and RVs.
14:52 — Weeds and grass.
16:33 — Dealing with hoarders.
20:50 — Goats?
22:30 — Jay gives Julie a pop-quiz.
23:25 — Show close.
About the Blogger
Jay Socol (@jaysocol) is in his eighth year as College Station’s public communications director. A 1991 graduate of Texas A&M. Jay has also been communications director for the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, public information officer for the City of Bryan, and news director at several Bryan-College Station area radio stations. A native of Breckenridge, he also serves as president of the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers.
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