Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

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Notice of a public meeting of the planning and zoning commission of the city of Brownsville. Pursuant to chapter 551, Title 5 of the Texas Government Code, 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, November 6th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. in the Commission Chambers on the second floor of the Brownsville City Hall, Old Federal Building located at 101 East Elizabeth Street, Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, 78520. Pledge of Allegiance. Will you do a roll call?

Amalia Benson, David Ramirez, Eliza Vasquez, Ira Rodriguez, David Bettincourt, updates and comments.

Hi, good afternoon. Daniel Le, director of planning and redevelopment. Erh we uh in the occasion that some new members are going to be joining this board, we want to put some training in place in January probably uh because of the holidays for the new members and the existing or the remaining members of all of our uh boards and commissions. So the planning department actually has four boards. One is the board of adjustment erh construction erh building and construction standards uh planning and zoning and historic preservation commission. So the plan is to do like a twohour uh session uh with a legal firm we will be hiring to go over the open act open meeting acts and public information act and also the rules and procedures. Then we can split into we can split into our different commissions. So the planning commission will be by itself and you will have one hour in which myself and Martin will be providing some training on what is zoning, why it matters, uh what is a subdivision, uh what is a platting, uh and all those uh things again for new members or existing members as a refresher. So it will be a threehour block basic basically. So in the next few days we will be email you emailing you a survey to check your preferences like what it's a big time time commitment three hours but it's going to be only once for your full term. I was just saying welcome uh we're putting some training for new and remaining uh commissioners for all across our boards and commissions and that will be on January. So if you could choose the day in the week that you would prefer and

the time in the day that you would prefer and we will try to make our best to come up with the solution that works for most people. Do you have any question? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next is the approval of the minutes for the regular meeting on October 2nd, 2025. I'll make a motion to approve. Second. We have a first and a second motion to approve minutes. All those in favor? I.

All those opposed? Eyes have it. Motion approved. Items for individual consideration. consideration and action to grant a subdivision waiver for Diamante estate subdivision located in the extr territorial jurisdiction of the city of Brownsil from the municipal planning process and solely proceeding with Cameron County jurisdiction.

Good evening commissioners. Uh this is a like uh he said is a consideration and action to grant a subdivision waiver uh for Diamontes subdivision located in the city's ETJ from the municipal platting process. Uh it's a one lot subdivision approximately three and a half acres. It's located north of Highway 100 along the nor northernmost arm of the city just south of Rioondo

question.

So move to u approve the consideration action on the amount of states. I'll second. We have a first and a second motion. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries.

Public hearings. Public hearing and action on ordinance number 235-2025-023 to reszone from agriculture AG to residential single family R1 for 85.92 acres and corridor commercial CC for 6.32 acres to allow a residential single family development and a commercial development for a combined tract of land of 92.24 24 acres being out of 119.96 acres of land out of 239.92 acre tract out of tract 40 of the paredes tract uh paris partition tract subdivision E in the share 19 of Santo Grant Cameron County Texas located at Pedes line roads Texas 7566 the uh request is to reszone uh from residential single family to commercial corridor uh the current zoning is agriculture Uh the proposed use will be a combination of single family development as well as commercial development with 6.32 acres of commercial development to the front and 85.92 acres of single family development to the rear. The property is facing Line Road. As required by state law, staff did uh send out public or did post a public notice sign and [clears throat] we sent out five uh mailout notices and received zero uh written opposition to the request. The area zoned as excuse me the area zoned agriculture to the north, the east, and the south. And the area immediately west is undeveloped and it's outside of the city limits. Uh both areas are the entire surrounding area is undeveloped. The uh you know again the the area is mostly vacant. Um the property adjacent is being cleared for development, but that developer uh it has been in contact with the city and will tend intends to submit a subdivision plat in the future. But again, you know, we're focusing on those 92 acres in the yellow. This request is not consistent with the

existing comprehensive plan and the future land use plan. Uh but staff is recommending approval to reszone from agriculture uh from agriculture to residential single family and commercial corridor. Um again the um commercial corridor will be in the front and the residential single family will be towards the rear. Go back a couple of slides please. I'm sorry ma'am. Go back a couple of slides please. That one. Okay. So the property in the north that's not already reszoned. That's not reszoned. It's agriculture because isn't that the one that's like misol subdivision that they're doing the same thing?

Right. Right. Right now they're doing dirt work because they got their permit to clear the land, but they're still working on the subdivision. um as part of the development process, they're uh looking to submit the application uh sometimes according to the developer sometime in December or January. They're still trying to figure out how much acreage of commercial and how much acreage of uh residential is going to be allotted uh for the development, but it's going to be a very similar request to this commercial along the frontage, residential to the rear. I was thinking we had already approved that subdivision plat.

No, no. Uh they they brought it in for um the master plan and at that time we were still doing the review here at the planning and zoning commission. But at that time uh it was approved. But again, a master plan is just conceptual. They can change at any time. And that's the intent. They do want to change it from being just residential to having the mixture of commercial with the residential.

Okay. Any discussion, questions? This is a public hearing. So, if there's anyone in the audience would like to address the board, then come forward at this time. Make a motion to close public hear public hearing. We have a first and second motion to close public hearing. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. What is the wish of the board? So move to reszone to a residential and commercial corridor.

Second. We have a first and a second motion to accept uh the resoning. All those in favor? I I All those opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries.

Public hearing and action on ordinance number 235-2025-024 to reszone from residential transition R3 to regional center RC to allow for a commercial development for 1.24 24 acres out of block 90. Elhardine subdivision share 27 Espanto Grant, Cameron County, Texas, located at 5467 Padra Island Highway, Brownsville, Texas 7521. Uh the request again is to reszone from regional center uh to residential transition R3. Um for excuse me to res yes uh for a commercial excuse me from um residential transition

residential transition to uh to regional center. Um the property is facing uh Padre Island Highway as required by state law. Uh staff posted a notice sign on the subject property detailing the request and the public hearing information. The subject property is located at 5467 Padre Island Highway near the intersection of Padre Island Highway and Portway Street north of Bokh Chica Boulevard on the east east central part of the city in council district 2. Notices were sent out uh within a 200 radius and um we sent out a total of six uh notices to individual properties as required. However, staff also did deliver approximately 22 notices to the properties um in the Portway subdivision to the north and received no written opposition to the request. The property uh to the south is zoned corridor commercial um and residential transition R3 to the west um as well as light industrial to the north and east and it's part of that larger track that you see there. This is another aerial view of the property. Uh the large former industrial site is vacant. Uh the property immediately to the west is undeveloped. There's a Dollar General and a warehouse to the south across SPI Highway as well as a mechanic shop on the corner of Portway and South Padre Island Highway. This request is consistent with the city's future land use plan and is located within the linkage corridor. The intent for that is primarily commercial uses with regional focus. staff is recommending disapproval of this request to reszone from residential transition R3 to regional center um RC um and instead is recommending approval of a zone change to corridor commercial. Uh this is due to the district's closer compatibility with existing land uses and zoning districts. Uh going back to the land use map, the the commercial uses to the south are within that um com the corridor commercial zoning designation. Uh, so staff felt that it

was more appropriate to to zone it to corridor commercial so that it's consistent with those uses as opposed to regional center which allows for more intense uses. Questions? That's on the on the uh the Will High property is what's on the north side of that. That's correct. We're just shut down now. So your sorry your recommendation is to change it to a commercial uh corridor corridor. Yes sir.

Uh and that's to limit the use of That's correct. So that Okay. Typically regional center will allow for more intense more dense uses. Um whereas uh corridor commercial allows for a more scaled down use uh than what your traditional uh regional center would allow. Is that to protect maybe the housing that we have around there? Okay. Yes sir. See that. Yeah. I was going to ask why was that recommendation uh appro asked for? Right. It's to to limit any potential uh nuisance or um you know conflicts uh that that might arise. Right. So we kind of limit the the use of that.

Will that have any issues with the owner and what they want to do with that property? Um, not that I'm aware of. From what we've been told is that it's for commercial uses. It's been left, you know, broad. Um, I'm not sure what the the actual intent is um, at this time. So, why was the request made for RC? RC will allow for more uses. Uh, so thus, you know, probably making the the property more marketable, you know, more flexibility, right? Um, whereas, like I said, you know, uh, corridor commercial is a more scaled down version of that, but still allows for commercial uses. Um, you know, again, you have that Dollar General to the south. You even have um the mechanic shop that's on the intersection, you know, and that's within those zoning designations. Thank you. Yes, sir. It's only a 1.24 acre track.

And just to add a little bit more context, uh, yes, the original petition was for regional center based on the discussion we had with the developer. Um, in initial conversations, the in initial intent to develop, I guess, based on potential clients for the property or to uh establish a business of similar to heavy equipment rental. And so the regional center uh zoning designation uh allows for commercial uses but with let's see a twist of uh or a touch of industrialized uh or with an industrialized component. Um, but because this property uh falls on the corner of a larger parent track uh that used to be 10 acres and probably if maybe you recall or or if you don't, this used to be the Milw White site. And what we're trying to do is uh to provide as much protection to that um residential subdivision that's to the north. Also, that's why we provided or extended the courtesy. Even though we weren't required, we sent out notices to them so that they wouldn't feel that it's a zoning change that perhaps was being uh was not being presented to them. And so, uh that that's mainly the reason behind it. And as uh um as was mentioned the commercial corridor recommendation is just to keep it in line with what is existing in the surroundings both in zoning and uh usewise. Now, if again having a conversation in a couple of days ago with uh the representative of the developer, um they mentioned again uh

the intent to develop the property into uh something related to um heavy equipment uh storage or rental, I'm sorry. Um and that would still be permitted in commercial corridor. The only difference is that they wouldn't have uh all the equipment out in the front in the open. It would have to be to the side or or to the rear. Does developer understand your request to change it to a CC? Does he understand? Yes, we we pointed it out to them. They're here. Um and are they are they okay with that? Their concerns.

Are they okay with that? uh uh making it a com um changing it to a CC. Well, right. It's our recommendation. They're here and and we would like to also hear their opinion um as to their agreement or or not. Thank you, sir. At this time, I'd like to open up to the public if the developer has any comments, they can come forward. At this time, I would like to speak on behalf of the owner. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.

My name is Claudia Ayu. I'm representing the owner of this property, Mr. Luis Torres. Um, this all started because the zoning had changed to R3 and he wasn't aware. Um, so he's very limited on what he can do with the property at this point with R3. um being on international on a a big traffic area, I think it would actually enhance uh this street, this corridor to have something commercial. Um when we first approached uh the department with Mr. Martin Vega, he actually recommended, well, we could do a an RC. We would be we were fine with that. And then they explained to us how a CC would be better. We have no problem with that. We just wanted to make sure that the we could move forward with not having an R3. Um because that really does limit it to what we can do with this property in a great area and just having it um residential was kind of like um not getting the full benefit out of this property with such great traffic and great corridor. And also if we were to build some apartments, it would be kind of difficult to lease them or sell them due to the fact that they're right next to a big industrial property itself. So I think having it commercial is a great buffer between the the existing residential that's there and the industrial that's still there.

Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? per second move to close public hearing. A second. We have a first and a second motion to close public hearing. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. Any further questions? What is the wish of the board? I'd like to make a motion to approve to change to a commercial corridor as per staff recommendation. Second. We have a first and a second motion to approve zoning to commercial corridor. All those in favor say I.

I. I. All those opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. Thank you, Miss Claudia. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. We have a motion on the floor to adjourn the meeting at 550. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Meeting adjourned at 5:50. Thank you everybody. Appreciate your effort.

I would like to thank the staff very much for the last three years that I served on this board. Thank you all very much. This is my last meeting. I will not be able to attend next month due to my company or my association is having our Christmas party and installation bank when I need to be there. So since this is my last meeting staff, thank you very much. I truly appreciate everything that you all have done for us. Uh board members, thank you very much for uh serving along with me and it's been fun. I really enjoyed it. So thank you very much and you know if you all ever need anything, I'm always available for you all. Martin, thank you very much for everything. Thank you guys. Thank you, David. I apologize. We have a new board member, Cesar Rodriguez. Thank you for being with us. We look forward to working with you. Good night, everybody.

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