Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

. . David Bettencourt. Aida Rodriguez.

Bob Torres.

Thank you. Notice of a public meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Brownsville, pursuant to Chapter 551, Title V of the Texas Government Code, the Texas Open Meetings Act. Notice is hereby given that the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Brownsville, Texas has scheduled a regular meeting on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 5.30 p.m. in the Commission Chambers on the second floor of the Brownsville City Hall, Old Federal Building. located at 1001 East Elizabeth Street, Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas 78520. Pursuant to section 551127 Texas government code, Baltimore commissioners or employees may attend this meeting remotely using video conference technology. This video and audio feed of the video conferencing equipment can be viewed and heard by the public at the address posted above or in this case below as the location of the meeting.

So this is a regular meeting at 5.30 PM. We will start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Approval of the minutes of the regular meeting on May 7th, 2026. 2nd.

There was a motion to approve in a 2nd, right? Do I have to do anything? That they already made the motions. to approve. Okay.

Is that okay? Oh, everyone was in favor. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Next updates and comments.

Good evening commissioners members of the general public here. My name is Sam Nunez city planner, working from planning and redevelopment department. I wanted to share a few updates of what we've been doing with the housing master plan these past few weeks. Starting starting in May 26. we had our 1st, official technical committee meeting this week. We actually had 2 very important meetings. 1. Uh, we had it for a public kickoff event just yesterday and the day before that we briefed, uh, the city commissioners on what would be those objectives, those goals, uh, the engagement strategies we're gonna be considering for this plan. Uh, we're glad to report that these events have been very successful, uh, in terms of presenting any results, uh, anything that this board could review to. Suggest differences in implementations or any kind of, you know, new ideas. We don't have anything to present at this time. We're working on just that once we start getting engaged with the public. Once we start drafting some of these ideas, we will be coming before this board so that they can officially review it. However, we do have a lot of open houses planned out for the rest of this year. We have a 10th month goal. Uh, to complete the plan that is somewhere around December, early January, early January, where we're going to see the final or draft of the plan. But before then, there's going to be a number of open houses. Like I've mentioned, uh, technical committee meetings. We're going to be reaching out to the public, uh, this 1st, Friday, uh, or this coming Friday, we're going to have a tabling event here at market square where we're going to be gathering valuable. feedback from the from the public that's present there on what do they envision for this housing plan? What do they want to see more of here in the city of Brownsville? We're going to be putting out more of those dates as we as we move forward. If this board wants to get more involved in some of these open houses, some of these meetings they want to attend, you can get in contact with myself or Mr. Leal, the department director, so we can plug you in into those meetings and you can be involved. If there's any questions, I'm open to them.

Thank you.

Items for individual consideration. Item number one, consideration and action to grant a subdivision waiver for Browning Lots subdivision located in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Brownsville from the municipal planning process and solely proceeding with Cameron County jurisdiction.

Thank you as mentioned, this is a subdivision subdivision waiver request for a brownie lots of division. This will be an industrial type project. Uh, 1 lots of division, uh, and the proposed use for that lot will be for a warehousing to store, uh, industrial materials, um, or equipment. Uh, this, um, map here shows the location of this lot here, fronting Boca Chica Boulevard. which is a primary arterial at 120 foot right of way. And it also has another front and road on the east of the property, uh, as brownie Avenue, which is considered a collector at 80 feet of right of way. Again, this is for a 1 lot subdivision and they want to move forward with that subdivision process under the county's jurisdiction. Uh, the planning department is recommending approval of this waiver.

Does that get opened up for public hearing? Sorry. All right.

That's just the question.

If this gets opened up for public hearing. All right. I have a motion.

Second.

All those in favor say aye. All those opposed. Motion carries.

Public hearings.

Public hearing number one. Public hearing and action on ordinance number 2352026-009 to rezone from commercial corridor to residential estate to allow a single family residence for 2.64 acres out of 5 acres out of the Baldolph 10.88 acre tract out of the CB Hamlet 47.9 acre tract. Sherrod 12, El Jardin Subdivision, Cameron County, Texas, located at 32 Fish Hatchery Road, Brownsville, Texas, 78520.

Good afternoon, Commissioners. Carlos Guerra with the Senior Planner with the City's Planning and Redevelopment Services Department. This request is to rezone from commercial corridor CC to residential estate to allow for a single family residence. As required by state law, we sent out a notice of public hearing and we also posted a physical sign on the property and we sent out mail outs to eight property owners within a 200 foot radius of the subject property. The surrounding area is zoned commercial corridor to the north and the east as you get closer to I-69. The areas to the south and west are zoned residential estate. The property is located north of Alton Glore and about a half mile or more south of the 77 Flea Market. The area to the immediate east is vacant and the surrounding developed areas consist of large lot single family homes, which is consistent in what you see in the residential estate zoning district. The future land use plan designates the subject property is in the linkage corridor and emergence emerging city West district residential uses in the linkage corridor should constitute about one quarter of the land uses in the form of single family homes. The emerging the emerging city West district should be predominantly residential consisting primarily of single family homes on large lots. The request is consistent with the future land use plan and the adjacent land uses. Staff is recommending approval the rezoning request. It is the opinion of the department that the proposed use, which is a single family residence is consistent with the adjacent land uses. And I believe we do have a member of the public that wish to sending the item. I don't know if you wanted to speak on the item.

Yes, sir, they'll open up for public in just a 2nd. Yeah.

Did we discuss that 1st and then public hearing.

open for public hearing and then we'll discuss okay at this time we'll open up the public hearing this is a public action so we currently own the property my partners and i adjacent to the proposed residential lot oh ricardo gonzalez 120 fish hatchery

be adjacent to it. You have the first frontage property, the proposed and our property, which is also surrounded by commercial properties. There's a Pecan Motel right behind it. There's a few other properties in that area. The only thing I ask is you deny this proposal. I'm concerned that placing the residential development in the middle of an established commercial area may create long-term conflicts between residents and commercial businesses in the area. Sometimes there's deliveries, there's customers traffic, operating hours might affect noise complaints and all that. And it also affects future expansion and sell the property. With it being surrounded, you'll have a residential property surrounded by commercial might affect it. Now in future expansion of commercial new development for the area in which it's not been there for many years, right? Placing this residential and already a commercial business or area will affect it drastically.

So I ask that you deny the proposal, respectfully.

OK. Thank you for your comment.

Thank you.

Does anyone else want to come up?

This is a public hearing.

Good evening. My name is Graciela Villarreal and we are within the 250, I believe you all said the radius. Okay. So yes, the sign is up and it's been up for a while, but I'm a little bit confused. Is this for residential? Because I overheard him say or mentioned something about commercial.

It's currently commercial and they're trying to rezone it. That's what I understand. Presidential estate. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. We don't object. Okay. We just welcome our new neighbors, I guess. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

And I did want to point out to you that the, uh, the subject property is is close to other residential estate zone areas. You know, generally where you are worried about spot zoning in this case, you know, it's adjacent to a residential estate area. Um, and therefore we are recommending approval.

Does anyone else have any comments.

I disagree on it. I mean, that thing's been around for about 100 years. They decided to make something that's going to divide all commercial land across the street. It is residential, but I mean, not that. It's going to stop big business from coming because of one house, one household that wants to build there. Why don't they build in the corner of the expressway that are there? It's going to devalue their land right down the corner. That can be industrial there. I mean, something big can come, but I mean, we don't even have sewer there. So I mean, I mean, unless they're going to provide it there, it might be different. But other than that, I mean, I disagree on it.

I don't agree on it at all. Thank you for your comment.

There's a developer here.

Oh, go on. 120 . I also disagree with residential. I refer to commercial. OK. So I disagree. Thank you.

Thank you.

I just got a little one twenty fish actually also dot would like for you guys to do this so we could keep this commercial going.

Thank you thank you for your comment. Is a developer in the building.

I don't believe so.

Close book.

All those in favor.

All those opposed. Those public comment. What is the wishes of the. The board would you mind.

Could you bring up the other graph that actually that. So, to my right. Is that a residence where the actual little.

Where the, uh, the little icon is, um. That appears to be a residence, but I'm not sure that it's occupied on Google Earth. It looks vacant. Um, but obviously you can see the, the roof structure on there, but it looks like it at 1 time was a single family home. Okay, it's, it's vacant according to the gentleman that, uh, works close by just to clarify.

It is a residence. Um, I, we are uncertain if it's vacant or not. This area that is being reasoned is part of. a larger tract, a five acre tract, which stretches all the way to the interstate. So that entire corner where the interstate is all the way to where this red polygon showing the area being rezoned, where it ends, that's owned by this, it's the same property owner. There is an existing residence, as mentioned, on the portion that's right on the corner. Uh, their intent, or the reason why they're subdividing it is because they want to give. Uh, I don't know if it's 1 of their, uh. Sons or daughters, that's getting that property. They want to build their house. On that 2.5 acre parcel and again, as Mr. That are mentioned. The, the request is consistent with what's within the vicinity. Of residential homes, everything else that's related commercial. It's fronting the expressway only 1 home, Martin.

Yes. Yes.

Again, as Mr. Guerra mentioned, all the lots within this area are half an acre or larger, so it's consistent with what's established on the ground.

Okay, so just so I'm sure the tracking question outlined in red, they're looking for single family.

Yes, correct.

And it's a zone commercial right now. I know the Gonzalez family, your properties to the left of that, correct?

Property lies adjacent to it, which is the left-hand side, supposed to be the second property. Well, that's the only that.

What they want to build there is just a residential home going to impact everything else around it. Yes, across the street are the residential homes. Which will not stop right there. Also, this will really diminish the opportunity.

Turn it into a potential cell in the in the near future. As.

As I'm looking at everything else here is residential, correct? I mean, like across the street?

Correct. You're talking about this property right here? Yes, this property. This is yours right here? The warehouse? Okay. The warehouse in question is the one directly to the left. So that's actually zoned residential estate. So that would be considered a legally non-conforming use. Again, bringing this one in, rezoning this one to residential estate would still have that property touching all of those residential estate uses. And the request is for a single family home.

Can we open it? We'll open it back up.

My name is Ricardo Villarreal. I live right across the street from that property right in the subdivision creek, river creek or creek or circle. I'm a little bit hard of hearing, so I couldn't understand everything they were saying. I know it's a commercial piece of property, and they want to turn it into a residential. I don't have any problem with that. But I couldn't understand very well what these gentlemen were saying. They don't want to keep this as a residential, or they want to keep it commercial. That's what they're saying? Correct.

Their concern is business traffic to their business residential.

And you guys are the owners of that?

okay okay and you you rather keep it it's just going to be for one home i understand that okay all right Everybody else on the.

So they already. They could have still turned their whole property. The corner frontage, right? The start of it. They could have built their home there, but they don't want to do that. It's going to affect the future sell of their property.

I remember 20 years ago they wanted $3,000,000.

They turned it into residential. Well, that's why we're here. We don't know what's going on with all of them.

We like to keep the discussion. For the record that way.

Okay, so I got I understand now what you thank you.

And just to provide a little bit of additional context. Um, the property that. The gentlemen are referencing that they own. It's it's not commercial right now. There's a business being operated on that property and. There are open court enforcement cases against it. So, uh, for to operate their use, they would need an industrial zone designation. Uh, just we have to add that as context.

If they're going to build this into a residential, if you approve it.

Is this going to have a septic tank in there because our subdivision. It's all septic and they're all 1 acre lots and I'm just concerned about the value of what they're going to do with it. That 1 time it was commercial. And okay, it's commercial, they're going to build whatever. But it is that going to be a. Door line running through there, or they're going to do a septic tank. There's a lot of questions that I would like to ask, but I don't want to take up too much of your time.

They are proposing a septic tank.

Okay. They fall within that right to do that with that amount of acreage.

That is correct. The closest sewer line, the distance exceeds the distance required by UDC provisions and Also, their property is bigger than half an acre as well. That's what's required for to allow a septic tank. So they're in compliance.

With with their proposal.

Yes, sir.

Yes.

We heard from the gentleman that he said that we have a business in there. We don't have a business. It's just for storing. Uh, there was a call for the zoning. They went in there and they saw everything and we don't have no business running in there. We just stored the equals and machinery.

Thank you.

I'm sorry to the left of the Gonzalez families. That small track, what is on that piece right there? There's that little L. The flag lot is a residence. So residence to the left, cross, all the way across. How did this get its own commercial in the first place? It just done back in the day or?

The frontage was always commercial because of the expressway.

Does the board have any more questions? Want to make a motion? Yes.

Just say in the future, the frontage of property gets sold as commercial. Okay. If it's considered commercial, they should provide the sewer line. So how can that be classified as a commercial if they don't have the services?

No, not necessarily. If the property, there's regulations that dictate whether or not a sewer line extension is required. Because they're planning. So right now it exists as an unsubdivided five acre tract. Right now they're going to basically split it in half and they're rezoning this particular portion to residential. The front portion that is fronting the expressway, that is not being touched. It continues to be commercial and it continues to be an unsubdivided parcel. It used to be five acres. Now it's going to be 2.5 acres because that This portion that we're looking at is going to be separated out. Whenever they come in to develop that corner lot, if they want to do something commercial because the zoning would allow them to, they would have to go through the planning process of the property. And they would be required to get the subdivision reviewed by the utility provider. Depending on where the utility line is, if it's 500 feet or more. They're not required to extend that. And that's just as per state law. If it's within within those 500 feet. They would be required if it is feasible because there's sometimes that. That line does fall within the range. But for whatever reason, there may be too shallow or it's not, uh, feasible to extend it. That would be the only time where a septic tank would be permitted. If the property has half and half acre or more in size. Which based on what we know, the corner parcel would, it would remain as a 2.5 acre track.

Okay in that case we are still in favor of. Resigning this to residential. The reason is because we have a warehouse or there's a warehouse right next to it it was back then grandfathered as residential and all the sign it got sold. There's a new owner there was no signs up there. If we would have seen the signs, you know that this was going to be a commercial, which is a commercial now that warehouse. Okay, commercial and they don't have a store aligned there. Okay, the issue here is that parts go in and out. And there's also activities during the weekends. They throw parties, pinatas, who knows family gatherings. Okay, so that is kind of disturbing because why not go east? a location for popping out there or a party why don't they just go to their houses and take that you know their friends over to their house why do they have to come to the warehouse and disturb the neighborhood so that's why I am in favor of converting this into a residential we don't want any more commercial thank you thank you

Any more questions? Staff recommends to approve the residential. The residential zone. Yes, sir. Residential estate.

Motion to approve.

Do we have a second?

Second to go with staff recommendation.

Although we have a motion to approve all those in favor. All those opposed. Motion of motion carries.

Thank you.

Item number two public hearing in action on ordinance number two, three, five, twenty, twenty six dash zero one zero. to rezone from residential single family to residential suburban to allow a duplex for lot 4 block 4, McKenzie estate subdivision, Cameron County, Texas, located at 995 North Iowa Road, Brownsville, Texas 78521.

So, this request is to rezone from residential single family R1 to R2 residential suburban to bring a property into compliance and allow a duplex on the subject lot. As required by state law, we posted a physical sign on the property and sent out a notice of public hearing to property owners within a 200 foot radius. We sent out 25 mail outs to property owners within the 200 foot radius. The area to the north, south and east, or excuse me, the north, south and west are zoned residential single family R1 and there's residential suburban R3, which is a more intense residential designation across North Iowa Avenue. The next R2 designation is to the north, approximately 300 feet away from the subject property. This is an aerial image of the property. This is an older aerial, so you see that there's a structure on the south that had been for rent at one point, and that structure has been removed. So right now, the only structures on the property are the proposed duplex in the rear and then the single family structure in the front. And I'll explain a little more in just a second.

So there is a little bit of history on this.

This came to us by way of the Code Enforcement Department. The property owner had an A-frame structure in the rear, which you see right here. And they purchased another A-frame structure to attach it and make it a duplex. When Code Enforcement caught that, they advised the property owner and the property owner came to speak with us and is willing to get this into compliance. So in order to do so, the structure in the front, single-family home, which you see back here, will be removed. The duplex, which is now approximately 69.08 feet by 22.58 feet, will be moved up to meet the front minimum setbacks or reoriented to meet the front and side setbacks. And then again, that main structure in the front will be removed. In that area, there's a mix of There's a mix of multifamily and single-family uses. So it is consistent with the surrounding neighborhood. There's two duplexes to the rear of the property. There's another duplex adjacent to the property, right there to the north. And then there's also an apartment complex to the northeast, so you can kind of see the roof on the top right corner. The future land use plan designates the area as a transition east district. This district is meant to support residential uses with an average density of two dwelling units per acre. So this request is consistent with the future land use plan. Staff is recommending approval of the rezoning request, subject to removing the primary structure, that structure in the front, and then orienting the new duplex in a manner that meets the minimum setback requirement in an R2 zone. In an R2 zone, you have five foot setback on each side. You have 10 in the front and five on the rear.

This is a public hearing if we want to open it up to, or we will open up to public comment if anyone in the audience has concerns.

Move to open public hearing.

Does anyone have any questions in the audience? No.

Those are closed. All those in favor? all those opposed motion carries is the wish of the board go with staff recommendation to approve the rezoning from residential r1 to r2 all those in favor aye all those opposed motion carries

Item number 3 public hearing in action on ordinance number 2, 3, 5, 2026 dash 0, 1, 1, dash s. To request a specific use permit in a commercial quarters zoning district to allow an event center for lot to block 1. On guys, the subdivision replant Cameron coming to Texas, located at 4, 8, 1, 0, Boca Chica Boulevard, Brownville, Texas, 7, 8, 5, 2, 1.

Thank you, sir as mentioned, this is a specific use permit, uh, request to current. zoning for that property is commercial corridor as per UDC. Whenever someone wants to introduce an event center into a CC district, they require that SUP. This property is fronting the Boca Chica Boulevard. We did send a notice for this public hearing, both for this PNZ meeting and for the city commission meeting that would follow. We also set a physical sign at the property to let the adjacent property owners there know about this meeting and the request. This is a 200 foot buffer map showing the vicinity. Uh, there has been a total of 17 mail outs sent to the property owners within that boundary 0, 0, written oppositions letters were returned to city staff members. Uh, this is the zoning map showing the existing zoning districts located adjacent to this property as we can see, uh, there is quarter commercial East and West of this property and South of it as well. Uh, there's actually a small strip of RC, which is regional center, uh, just immediately adjacent to the East of the property. And on the outer skirts of the, uh, area, there's are 1 for a single family residential. This is a map showing some of the uses and the surrounding area. There is an office use just north of the building. The proposed event center will be within that red indication and a beauty salon will be south of that building. But as you can see what surrounds it, it is a good mix of single family uses office uses and some form of commercial retail. Uh, based on, you know, what we found, uh, we found that this request is consistent with the comprehensive plan and the future line use plan staff does recommend approval. of the specific use request to allow the event center within the corridor commercial district. If it is approved, it is subject to the following two conditions. First of it being that it must comply with sound mitigation regulations. And this is what those regulations are specifically. It is a sound mitigation measures and interior finish out materials such as acoustic tiles or other approved Sound dampening insulators shall be installed to maintain a noise level less than or equal to 60 decibels when measured at the common property line shared by the noise emitting use and adjacent residential zoning districts. And the second condition being to comply with parking requirements. The event center shall operate Fridays and Saturdays. only from 6 PM to 11 PM as per the property owner. And the complimentary use, which is a beauty salon shall operate from Monday to Saturday from 8 AM to 5 PM. So these uses that will be within the same building won't have conflict conflicting operating hours. And based on these, uh, conditions and what we found to be consistent with our comprehensive plan and future land use map staff is recommending approval.

Thank you. I will open it up to public comment. Move to open public hearing.

Motion to open.

Hello. My name is Juan Ramos. I'm the designer for them from JR Houseplants. We're doing, I'm going to finish off with that project. And I will see if we can get this going on. My friend here says that the two businesses, they're not going to collapse. They got their power separate from there. And I know there's another little event center there a little party place there too around the same boca chica like things to the east side there's a party place there and you know i just want to know you know that uh that you know that there will be no conflicts with the traffic because the boat uh businesses will be have their own schedule that's

Thank you. Any other comments? Move to close.

All those in favor?

All those opposed? Motion carries.

Does the board have any questions?

As per staff's recommendation, I move to approve.

All those in favor?

All those opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you. For item number four, it is on the agenda, but we did receive an email from the developer that they wish to hold off on the item until some items are resolved related to their development. So this item will not be presented this evening.

In that case, I move to adjourn.

All those in favor?

Motion carries.

Thank you.

We are adjourned.