Bryan City Council postpones rezoning vote on land near Austin’s Colony subdivision

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Several residents at Tuesday’s Bryan city council meeting spoke out against a request to rezone a parcel of land near the Austin’s Colony subdivision.

The land is currently zoned for retail use.

“This could easily be a hotel, that could easily be a four-story hotel if I back the setbacks up. So what I’m trying to do is protect and preserve the land,” property owner Wayne Courreges said at the meeting.

The request would rezone the land as a planned development housing district.

“I’m very passionate that multifamily is the best use to drum up the other development that we all want, which is retail, while controlling who is in this area to keep values,” Courreges said.

During the council meeting the property owner displayed renderings of a luxury apartment complex.

“I really wanted to value the amount of green and the park as well while keeping with the standard of the area. This is truly a luxury premiere property,” Courreges added.

However, some residents want it to stay zoned for retail.

“I think that this Bryan resident developer, who is actually a developer out of Houston, should put those apartments next to his country home and out of our neighborhood,” one resident said during the public hearing portion of the agenda item.

Others expressed concerns about traffic and safety on the surrounding roadways.

“There’s a lot of traffic. I walk, there’s other people here that walk. Just think about the safety aspect,” Calvin Wade, another Bryan resident, said.

The planning and zoning commission recommended that council approve the rezoning request at a public hearing in July.

The land is also located near schools, bringing safety up as a focal point of the discussion.

“This is a heavily pedestrian traveled and vehicle traveled corridor, and if we are looking at doing this we need to make sure that it’s safe,” city council member Jared Salvato said.

Ultimately, city council decided to hold off on taking a final vote, choosing instead to revisit the issue at a future regular meeting once those safety questions have been answered.

“I would make the motion to postpone this until the next council meeting so that we can work with the developer and city engineers or whoever it needs to be to make sure that with the introduction of a new road off of Austin’s Colony Parkway, it is a safe environment for all,” Salvato added.

The land is owned by CREI Partners. Courreges, the managing principal of the real estate firm, said this afternoon he’s going to continue working closely with the city and residents moving forward.