Final area-wide open house held as final touches are put on the 10-year Wellborn District Plan

WELLBORN, Texas (KBTX) -The final area-wide open house is being held Wednesday for the Wellborn Community to share their opinions and hear from College Station city planners as they put the final touches on the 10-year Wellborn District plan.

Tuesday’s meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Wellborn Middle School and is the sixth since January. Conversations have mainly focused on what the Wellborn corridor will look like over the next decade.

The existing Wellborn Community Plan was adopted by the College Station City Council on April 25, 2013 and was a planning effort under the 2009 Comprehensive Plan. The planning area is located in the southwestern portion of the city and includes much of the remaining historic Wellborn Community.

Residents and business owners KBTX spoke with over the last eight months say they’re open to change and improvements as long as they don’t take away from the rural character of the community.

City staff say they have taken that feedback and are looking forward to hearing more from stakeholders ahead of the city council’s adoption in October. They say the current plan looks similar to the 2013 plan.

“We took the goals from the 2013 plan, asked the residents what they would like to see changed, and made very, very minor tweaks to those goal statements. We will also have a list of the actions that are within the plan, so the actions are really the things the city has committed to do over the next 10 years,” said College Station Long Range Planning Administrator Alyssa Halle-Schramm.

Wellborn business owners and residents have been actively engaged in the process since the beginning and have expressed concerns about the transportation elements of any proposed plans.

One particular proposal that has stirred strong reactions is the potential installation of raised medians on Wellborn Road/ FM 2154. While residents and business owners along FM 2154 in Wellborn acknowledge the need for road and traffic improvements, they are less enthused about the potential impact of raised medians on traffic flow to their homes and businesses.

Halle-Schramm says they have also heard these concerns and say any plans for medians are not a part of the Wellborn District plan but rather other long-range planning collaborations between the city and TxDOT. Halle-Schramm says this plan will focus more on thoroughfare plan modifications, bicycle and pedestrian mobility, and Infrastructure maintenance and improvements

“So the actions are really the things that the city is committing to do over the next 10 years. Some of those are map changes, land uses on our future land use map, changing roads or bicycle lanes or pedestrian connections on our thoroughfare, bicycle maps, and pedestrian maps,” said Halle-Schramm.

Additional meetings will be held before the plan’s adoption in October.

Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Advisory Board RecommendationMonday, Sept. 18, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.City Hall Bush 4141 Community RoomPlanning and Zoning Commission RecommendationThursday, Oct. 5, 2023 at 6 p.m.City Hall Council ChambersCity Council AdoptionThursday, Oct. 12, 2023 at 6 p.m. at City Hal Council ChambersMore information on the Wellborn District Plan can be found on the city of College Station’s website.

Editor’s note: This story is developing and will be updated following the open house meeting Wednesday.