College Station city council approves second ROO district

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) -The College Station city council has approved the city’s second Restricted Occupancy Overlay district in a residential neighborhood.

Under the ROO, the city will now only allow two unrelated people to live in single-family homes in the area.

The overlay covers a portion of the Southwood neighborhood known as Phase or Section 21. It passed with a 5 to 1 vote.

College Station confirmed 25 homeowners in the neighborhood supported the requested ROO, a little more than 64% of homes. The new overlay runs along Bee Creek Drive and a portion of Southwood Drive just south of Bee Creek Park.

Phase 21 of the Southwood neighborhood was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is made up of 39 lots. The area was already designated as a Neighborhood Conservation District.

The ROO was previously approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission on May 4, with a vote of 5 to 2.

Neighbors told commissioners they took the action because they noticed adjacent neighborhoods had become “primarily student-based” and desired a “family-based neighborhood” that would feed into South Knoll Elementary. At that time, city staff told commissioners they were unsure if any homes were out of compliance with the ROO’s requirements or if any homes in the neighborhood had been cited or addressed about occupancy issues.

Planning and Zoning Commissioners Collins and Cornelius voted against the measure, expressing fundamental issues with the intent of the overall ROO ordinance.

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