SH 6 sidewalks get second look
Navasota’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) met in a regular session Thursday, April 25, and revisited the 2018 sidewalk ordinance.
Community Development Director Lupe Diosdado put forth an amendment that would remove the sidewalk requirement and refund any fee-in-lieu-of sidewalk construction fees paid to-date for sidewalk development along SH 6 frontage roads. After a public hearing, commissioners approved a slightly different amendment to the Chapter 10, Subdivision Regulation, Article 10.02, Subdivision Ordinance requirement for sidewalks, pending review by city legal counsel. While they supported the amendment to remove the sidewalk requirement, they favored leaving the fee intact to be used for the construction of sidewalks in other areas of Navasota to increase walkability.
The original fee recommendation made by P&Z was approved by city council under the subdivision and zoning ordinances in 2018 after several topography issues surfaced in certain areas of SH 6.
At that time Diosdado told council, “Instead of installing the sidewalk, they’ll pay the city a fee based on the square footage cost of the entire length of the sidewalk. The (sidewalk) funds can be applied to other parts of town where sidewalks are more necessary… or save that fund and at a future time, install it there if they can make it work some other way.”
In response to recent feedback from developers about the safety and usability of sidewalks on SH 6, Diosdado said, “We did a little research into neighboring cities about what other cities are doing. Across the board, most if not all cities are not requiring sidewalk construction along frontage roads on major highways. Their concern is safety because of cars exiting and entering the highway at pretty high speeds.”
He added that Navasota has 5 miles of frontage roads north and southbound along SH 6 with only 1.6 miles undeveloped and even with new development, 3.4 miles would still be left without sidewalks due to existing or established development.
Jacob Malek with MBC Management spoke during the public hearing supporting sidewalks within the city limits and the fee-in-lieu-of, and of the unlikelihood of sidewalk construction along the entire 5 miles of frontage road.
He said, “Why chip away at the sidewalks in this area when the usability is never going to be there.”
Commissioner Sarah Korpita said, “My hope would be that we continue to focus on Washington and LaSalle and build that network out and connect to other neighborhoods. I agree it may not be feasible in some areas and the highway may be one of those cases.”
Regarding the fee, Korpita said, “We have very few sources of revenue generation and if walkability is a goal of ours…I think it’s appropriate and a small part of development costs. As our fund grows, we can see sidewalk development in the rest of town.”
A coordinating amendment was also approved for Chapter 14 Zoning in the B-1 and B-2, General Business Districts pending review by legal counsel.
Rezoning A/O
After a public hearing with no comments for or against, commissioners approved rezoning five properties from Agriculture/Open Space (A/O) to B-1 and B-2 in the Northeast Growth Corridor of State Highway 6 and FM 3090.
Fronting FM 3090, 1.69 acres was rezoned from A/O to B-1, General Business District while another 9.2 acres was rezoned to B-2, General Business, single structure uses over 50,000 SF.
On the SH 6 frontage road, two properties totaling 65.32 acres went from split zoning A/O and B-2 to B-2.
Only 9.16 acres of the final property was rezoned to B-2 as the remainder of the property is not in the city limits.
Before adjourning, commissioners approved the minutes of the April 11 meeting as presented.
Present were Dia Copeland, Carolyn Katkoski, Sarah Korpita, James Harris, Chairman Randy Peters, Patty Tokoly and Dr. John Walla. Diosdado represented city staff.