Housing issues on agenda for College Station city council

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Housing will be at the forefront of discussions at Thursday’s College Station city council meeting, including an update on over-occupancy enforcement and a rezoning effort in the Glenhaven Estates.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. at the College Station City Hall, 1101 Texas Ave.

College Station’s impending housing crisis is an issue shared by the nearly 120,000 people who live in the city as well as the 72,000 students who attend A&M’s College Station campus. With only 11,000 of those students living on campus, thousands of students find housing off campus in rentals and apartments. According to an existing conditions report released in March 2024, 58% of residents in off-campus housing are “cost burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of available income on housing. 35% of those are severe cases – meaning more than 50% of income is spent on housing.

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Many residents have voiced frustrations with student rental properties where multiple students rent a house, splitting high rent prices between four people and subsequently raising prices of neighboring houses owned by College Station residents. City council candidate Tre Watson previously said at a council meeting that the street his family had grown up on for five generations, Sterling Street, consists mostly of student housing.

“Now, those families who grew up in those areas and have stayed there for generations are not allowed to stay there anymore because we have people whose parent’s money are paying for their rooms,” Watson previously said. “This is the city of College Station, not the city of A&M.”

In an effort to protect neighborhood integrity, College Station has a no-more-than-four citywide ordinance that prevents more than four unrelated individuals from living in a single dwelling and Restricted Occupancy Overlays, or ROOs, which limit the number even further to two unrelated individuals. The ROO restriction, which is optional for neighborhoods, makes it difficult for college students to rent in the zone, favoring single-family individuals.

“There are citizens that would like to see 100% success in enforcement [on the no-more-than-four ordinance],” College Station mayor John Nichols said. “We can give tickets to people who are in Northgate illegally consuming alcohol, speeders and others, but you’re not going to get 100%. Most of all, you’re trying to get behavioral change. We believe that there are a lot of changes that have occurred because we have re-engaged the community through enforcement.”

On Thursday, the council will consider a rezoning effort of approximately 11.52 acres within the Glenhaven Estates Subdivision to include a ROO. In order to include a ROO zoning in a neighborhood, a ROO Petition Committee must submit an application where 50 percent plus one of the signatures vote in support of the overlay. According to council documents, 20 of the 33 lots affected by the rezoning, overall 60.6%, voted in support of the ROO.

The area to the west is currently developed with townhomes. To the east of the proposed ROO zone, another section of Glenhaven received approval for a ROO rezoning in May 2024. The neighborhoods are located around 2-3 miles away from Texas A&M’s campus. The petition committee finished collecting petition signatures and submitted their ROO application on Nov. 13, 2024. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval.

Texas A&M students have previously raised concerns about preventative measures like the ROO discriminating against students and preventing students from having access to affordable housing. ROO supporters argue student housing raises property values and destroys community integrity. According to Jamie Prejean’s realtor website, no houses are available for sale in the Glenhaven Estates neighborhood.

No-more-than-four

College Station councilors will also hear an update regarding enforcement of the no-more-than-four ordinance. City council amended the penalty for the ordinance in April 2024 to be a civil offense costing $250 for the first violation, $350 for the second and $500 or more for third or more. In August 2024, College Station’s code enforcement supervisor Tommy Shilling said only one citation was issued for occupancy enforcement.

Nichols said, on Thursday, city staff will start with a presentation on code enforcement, allowing the councilors in their first few months of serving to ask questions and learn about the issue.

“The agenda item is about code enforcement, but we’re going to highlight the no-more-than-four ordinance because there’s a lot of continuing questions about it,” he said. “The point is to inform people of what we are doing and have a council discussion with anybody in the audience who wishes to speak to us.”

“We expect to hear discussion from staff about what the success rate has been, how many cases we’ve been able to document, how many cases were suitable for the prosecutor to take forward and how many people who appeared have pleaded guilty or had a rebuttable defense that proved they were not liable.”

Recreation center

Alongside code enforcement and housing, council will also hear an update on a recreation center feasibility study approved in October 2023. Phase one was presented to council in August 2024 and included market analysis and needs assessment. With new city councilors now in office, council will review phase one and give an update on phase two progress, including concept design, operations assessment, costs and engaging a steering committee. The feasibility study is currently contracted for $180,768.

Convention center

Council will also review the first phase of a convention center feasibility study approved in October 2024. Similar to the rec center feasibility study, the convention center feasibility study is broken into two phases with phase one determining potential market demand for a facility and phase two will flesh out details like programming, site evaluation, feasibility, financing options and return on investments. The convention center feasibility study was conducted at a cost of $40,050 and phase two is expected to cost an additional $32,875.

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