Bryan ISD to seek City Council approval on rezoning request

The Eagle
Chelsea Katz
Sept 24, 2022

The Bryan school district is moving forward with the process to build a new maintenance and transportation facility at the corner of Leonard Road and FM 2818, despite two denials from the Bryan Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Bryan City Council has the final say in rezoning issues, so the district is taking its plans to the council to seek approval.

“We simply make a recommendation to Council, and that’s all. We have no say. Even if we approve it, it still goes to Council for final approval,” Leo Gonzalez, chair of the Bryan Planning and Zoning Commission, said while the board was in executive session.

Gonzalez, who is running for a seat on the Bryan school board, and Planning and Zoning Commissioner Joseph Rodriguez were at the Sept. 19 Bryan school board meeting to hear the board’s decision after discussing the situation during executive session.

Board member Deidra Davis made the motion to move forward, saying, “I move that the board of trustees take action, so the city of Bryan can avoid any doubt that we are continuing to pursue action by the City Council to approve rezoning.”

Board member David Stasny, who is running for reelection as the Single Member District 5 representative, said he was disappointed in the situation.

Paul Buckner, energy and construction project manager for the Bryan school district, said during a Sept. 6 workshop that the land, which was purchased from Blinn College in June, is the third location the district has explored for the facility that will house the district’s maintenance, transportation, custodial, warehouse and school nutrition departments.

“I know firsthand that our staff worked very hard to find this tract of land and had absolutely no reason to think that we would have any problems using it for what we want to use it for,” Stasny said following Davis’ motion at the Sept. 19 meeting. “The fact that Blinn had already been given permission to use it for educational purposes and, obviously, taken off the tax rolls, we were confident. We have a good relationship with the city. This was one of those things that we just absolutely could not see it coming.”

Gonzalez said the difference between the two educational uses is the school district’s use is what would be termed industrial use compared to Blinn College’s use that would encourage residential and commercial development.

“If it had been students, you’d have had neighborhoods for teachers, for students, for everything else, which brings in bigger stores, which brings in all kinds of business, so it’s a catalyst for the area,” he said. “The bus barn isn’t going to do that. You’re going to have people come to work and leave. We’re not going to have people wanting to live by the bus barn; it’s having the opposite effect.”

Rodriguez said the request from the Planning and Zoning Commission was to place the maintenance and transportation facility on the back side of the property and sell the front portion back to the city to allow for commercial property that would generate tax money.

“It’s high-value land,” he said. “It’s the last hard corner, and if you drive from F&B to 21, you’re going to see that it’s the last hard corner, and it’s the main arterial that links [downtown Bryan] to RELLIS.”

Gonzalez said he believes it is a reasonable request.

“It would be a win-win,” he said. “They’d still get their bus barn. … And we can sell the front to pay for the improvements, bring in more business, bring in more money.”

Rodriguez said the role of the Planning and Zoning Commission is to use the city’s comprehensive plan and look ahead and do their best to zone and lay out the city in the best way for the future.

Gonzalez said it is not a “pipe dream” to think a big box store would want to build on the property if given the opportunity, saying Walmart considered it before building on Villa Maria and North Harvey Mitchell Parkway.

Gonzalez and Rodriguez, as well as Superintendent Ginger Carrabine and school board members, said they hope the council’s decision, which could come as early as Oct. 11, is seen as favorable for everyone.

“We’re trying to stay positive, and we feel confident in the decisions that we’ve made,” Carrabine said after the Sept. 19 meeting. “We worked for months with the city planning and development department to come up with a plan. We felt that we satisfied all the requirements necessary to achieve the rezoning approval, so I’m just very cautiously optimistic going forward that we will have a favorable outcome.”

The current transportation and maintenance facility on Bonham Drive is next to the site of Sadberry Intermediate School that will open with its first group of fifth graders in August 2023. Sixth graders will join the campus in August 2024.

“In order for that sixth grade to happen, we have to be tearing down our current transportation center at Tabor Road,” Julie Harlin, vice president of the Bryan school board, said following the meeting. “That has to happen by [February 2024] for us to finish projects on time.”

She said that timeline is now in jeopardy if the district’s construction timeline is delayed. A second motion following the Sept. 19 closed session discussion involved allowing district administrators to explore temporary locations to move maintenance and transportation operations if necessary.

The project is part of the 2020 bond, but finding a temporary location will add to the cost of the project, Buckner said.

“What we are committed to is moving forward with the property that we purchased with bond money for this purpose of this facility,” Harlin said. “That’s what we’re committed to, and we’re just praying, it doesn’t move us off timeline with our other project.”

Carrabine said she will follow the board’s directive if the district must find a temporary location, saying it is “critically important” that the district follow through on its promise to parents and students to open Sadberry in August 2023.

“To stay on timeline for that and to open it the subsequent year for grade six students, we’re going to do everything possible, so that means getting a plan together, identifying funding sources and a timeline and just some options for our board to consider,” she said.

The Bryan school board will meet for a monthly workshop Oct. 3 and the Bryan City Council will meet Oct. 11.