PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
APPROVAL GRANTED … City of Bryan Zoning Administrator Andy Waterston (above) calls to order the Bryan Planning Commission meeting held on Monday, July 6, in the Bryan Council Chambers. The commission approved the preliminary plat of The Ridge at Greenfield second addition at the meeting.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Bryan Planning Commission met on Monday, July 6 in council chambers.
Commission members present were Mayor Carrie Schlade, Street Commissioner Tyson Engstrom, Zoning Administrator Andy Waterston, City Engineer Brian Wieland, A.J. Nowaczyk, Bob Carter, Richard Hallett, and Jack Short.
Waterston called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The minutes from the April 6 meeting were approved.
Discussion regarding the preliminary plat approval for The Ridge at Greenfield second addition from the Williams County Port Authority followed.
Waterston gave a project presentation, commenting the second addition will consist of 13 lots, and it will continue on Westfield Avenue to the north and then move back around into Markey Drive.
“Basically, it’s just a mirror of The Ridge at Greenfield first addition,” Waterston told commission members. “It’s the same lot sizes as the first addition.”
Bill Martin, who serves as a board member on the Williams County Port Authority, told the commission they (the Port Authority) have been working on helping solve the housing crisis all over Williams County, specifically in Bryan.
“You see the new senior villas being constructed on South Portland Street and are going up pretty quickly, which is good,” Martin said. “We’ve also built 20 single-family homes in Williams County; three are in Bryan, and we got more on the drawing board.
“As soon as whenever we can find a vacant lot it has already got the infrastructure. We’re trying to buy it and build a home.”
Martin then said The Ridge at Greenfield provides a wonderful opportunity, with the ability to have 60 lots in Bryan in a great location near the new schools.
“We think these lots will be in high demand,” Martin pointed out. “We purchased that ground back at the end of May.
“The Port Authority owns that ground and we’re in the midst of working on the engineering with Brian (Wieland) and his office, making sure that we’re following all the right regulations.
“We still have an environmental review to go through because we are getting USDA grant funding for the water and sewer provisions.”
Martin said what the Port Authority is now ready to talk about is what it considers the prime lots in the whole development.
“These 13 lots are the largest, and we think it will go very well,” Martin said. “Although in Bryan, it seems like homes that are greater than 1,500 square feet, there is a deed restriction, and we’ve agreed to build homes that were a minimum of 1,500 square feet.
“I think they’ll be bigger than that. In those size homes, you only build about two or three of them in Bryan every year.
“At least, it’s been our history if you go back 20 years. If you can go faster than that, the market will dictate whatever that will happen.”
Commission member Bob Carter asked Martin whether the Port Authority had done any construction in the past, and whether it planned to buy the lots and develop the land — and who would be doing the construction on the project.
“We’re not planning to do the construction on these homes, but we’re hoping to sell these lots to builders that already have a history of building these sized homes, so they can blend in nicely with what’s already there,” Martin commented.
Schlade said that in a lot of the conversations the Port Authority has had with builders and developers, the cost of infrastructure is where they’re being pinched.
“The builder just has to worry about what the building cost is going to be, and hopefully alleviate some of that infrastructure cost,” added Schlade.
Martin noted that the City of Bryan has been a great partner in the development in terms of figuring out if this was the right way to go.
The Port Authority secured a federal grant to help offset the anticipated $2.7 million in infrastructure costs.
There are also plans on using a tax increment financing (TIF) district, in which a portion of the homeowners’ property taxes will go to a fund to help pay for the infrastructure.
Waterston said the initial plans were originally designed about 10 years ago but had not been brought to the commission for approval until now.
Carter then made a motion to approve the preliminary plat request for The Ridge at Greenfield second addition project. The motion was carried by an 8-0 vote.
The meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.