COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The Bryan and College Station Planning and Zoning Commissions held a joint workshop meeting.
At the meeting, the cities discussed current city projects and how they can work together now and in the future.
Specific topics discussed included the impact of Texas A&M’s capacity study on the region, pressures on the housing market and how best to manage rapid growth in Bryan and College Station.
The City of Bryan discussed the Innovation and Western Corridor overlay districts and the Midtown zoning and overlay district.
The city of College Station discussed its initiative to develop middle-class housing, particularly student housing.
College Station City Councilman Bob Yancy said that with both cities’ economies growing, government officials need to work together.
“I think cooperation between governments is extremely important. We need to leverage every little economy of scale for the benefit of taxpayers,” Yancy said. “These cities need to do more of what we did here today, what our planning and zoning commissions did. I’m just very pleased with how things went today, and I think we need to do more of that.”
Jason Cornelius, a member of the City of College Station Planning and Zoning Commission, said this is just the beginning of an ongoing collaboration.
“It can’t just be the two cities. We need to get the counties involved. We need to get our colleges involved and Blinn and Texas A&M involved to make sure that all voices are heard and that nothing is overlooked and we’re taking care of everything as our community continues to grow,” Cornelius said. “We want to make sure that we’re looking in a similar direction for both cities so that we can handle that growth.”
Clayton Watson, vice chairman of the Bryan Planning & Zoning Commission, said cooperation between the two cities is crucial.
“We both have our own visions of what progress and development looks like, but we are inextricably linked, so it’s important to really improve development, especially where the two cities are most connected,” Watson said.
Members of the Bryan and College Station planning and zoning commissions told KBTX they plan to hold more joint meetings between the two commissions in the future.
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