Neighborhood Conservation Overlay Recommendations

1. Neighborhood Conservation Overlay
Process and Standards Recommendations

2.  Background
 Neighborhood Integrity Process
 Council/ PZWorkshops and Direction
 City of Bryan R-NC presentation
 NCO process experience
 Observations, Lessons Learned & Staff Recommendations
 Process
 Additional (new) Overlay to limit unrelated household occupancy
 City-wide Neighborhood Integrity recommendations
 Defined Area
 NCO Standards

3.  2007: Single-Family Overlay districts created
 2008: Summerglen NPO approved
 2015: McCulloch NCO approved
 February 2018: City Council requested community feedback on NCO modifications
 April / May 2018 : 2 CommunityWorkshops and online and paper surveys
 July/August 2018: P&Z / City Council Workshops
 November 2018: City of Bryan presentation to P&Z / Council on R-NC zoning district
 February 2019: Heart of Southside NCO approved

7.  Currently 3 Single Family Overlay Options:
 Neighborhood Preservation Overlay (NPO)
 Neighborhood Conservation Overlay (NCO)
 Historic Preservation Overlay (HPO)
 Required For All Single Family Overlays:
 Defining boundary of the overlay
 Required neighborhood meeting with Staff
 Requirements for a petition in with 50%+1 support

8.  Allows neighborhoods to self-impose additional standards to address
neighborhood-specific issues
 Items that may be selected for inclusion in the overlay are:
 Front / Side Street Setbacks
 Minimum Lot Size
 Maximum Building Height
 Tree Preservation
 Landscape Maintenance
 Garage Access / Location
 Off-Street Parking
 Building Materials
 Fencing

9.  Process Improvements
 Staff to advertise for the neighborhood meeting rather than the applicants
 Notify all adjacent subdivisions adjacent
 Waive rezoning fee, but charge notification costs
 NCO Option Modifications
 Lot Coverage
 Tree Protection
 On-Site Parking
 Lot Sizes only applying to new lots
 Garage Requirement
 No MoreThan 2 or 3 Unrelated Option

10.  Adopted in 2006
 Occupancy limited to 2 unrelated
 Homes leased to more than 2 unrelated are grandfathered
 58% property owner support required
 47 subdivisions have been rezoned

11.  Process / Administration:
 Too much staff involvement prior to application
 Need additional City oversite
 District Changes:
 Option to regulate more than 2 unrelated
 Concerned with behaviors / symptoms in neighborhoods
 Area:
 Unpredictable / unclear
 Standards:
 Need to be more flexible

12.  Neighborhood process and standards handbook
 Neighborhood meeting letter template with map and NCO overview
 Petition template with map and standards
 Define maximum time between petition creation and application
 Alter committee make-up: minimum of 4, minimum of 1/subdivision
 Application submission triggers Staff’s project management
 Public meetings
 Map creation
 Notifications
 Conservation Study
 Certified support / dissent letter
 Notify all adjacent subdivisions
 Waive rezoning fee, but charge notification costs

13.  Currently 3 Single Family Overlay Options:
 Neighborhood PreservationOverlay (NPO)
 NeighborhoodConservationOverlay (NCO)
 Historic Preservation Overlay (HPO)
 Staff Recommends:
 Eliminating the Neighborhood Preservation Overlay (NPO) option
 If the policy direction is to limit the number of unrelated, then staff recommends creating an
additionalOverlay option
 Similar to the City of Bryan’s process / regulation
 Higher threshold of buy-in – 58%
 Grandfathering
 City-wide Neighborhood Standards
 Define and limit parking in the rear of single-family structures
 Limit impervious cover

14.  Current definition of a neighborhood:
 “A subarea of the City in which the residents share a common identity focused around a school, park,
community, business center, or other feature. For the purposes of a Single-Family Overlay District, a
neighborhood must contain at least thirty (30) single-family structures in a compact, contiguous area, or be
an original subdivision or phase of a subdivision if the subdivision contains fewer than thirty (30) single-
family structures. Boundary lines must be drawn to include blockfaces on both sides of a street, and to the
logical edges of the area or subdivision, as indicated by a creek, street, subdivision line, utility easement,
zoning boundary line, or other boundary.”
 Staff Recommendations:
 Original subdivisions
 Each subdivision must meet 50%+1

15.  NCO Modifications
 Lot Coverage
 Tree Protection
 On-Site Parking
 Lot Sizes only applying to new lots
 Garage Requirement

16.  Process
▪ Neighborhood responsibilities
▪ City responsibilities
 Additional (new) Overlay to limit unrelated household occupancy
▪ Similar to City of Bryan’s R-NC district
 Potential City-wide Neighborhood Integrity items
▪ Define and limit parking in the rear of single-family structures
▪ Limit impervious cover
 DefinedArea
▪ Original Subdivision
 NCO Standards
▪ As recommended by Council in August 2018