A church along Highway 6 has asked College Station to rezone its 10-acre campus to commercial so a weekday preschool operating inside the building fits the city's rules. The Planning and Zoning Commission holds a public hearing on the request Thursday.
Aldersgate Church of the Brazos Valley sits at 2201 Earl Rudder Freeway South, in the Windwood subdivision. The land is zoned General Suburban, a residential district that allows a place of worship but not a day care.
According to the staff report, the church recently started hosting a commercial day care on weekdays, and the request to switch the property to General Commercial is meant to bring that use into compliance with the city's development code.
In its application, the church wrote that it partnered with a school for eight years that shared its Christian education mission, with no problems for traffic, church property or neighbors, and that it expects the same from its current preschool partnership.
What staff found
City planner Garrett Segraves recommends approval. His report notes that the city's comprehensive plan already marks the site for general commercial use, and that commercial zoning would allow both the church and the day care. The site is outside the floodplain, and existing water and sewer lines can handle the use, the report says.
The neighbors are a mix. Homes zoned General Suburban sit to the north and east. A restaurant and a retail store, both zoned commercial, are to the southeast, and Post Oak Mall and the Wolf Pen Creek district are across the freeway to the west.
General Commercial is a broad district that covers a wide range of businesses, not just child care. The staff report acknowledges the change would make the property more marketable. The church's application describes the site as suited for its "current and continued use as a church for religious and Christian educational purposes."
The city mailed notices to 31 nearby property owners and sent a courtesy letter to the Windwood Home Owner's Association. When the report was written, staff had received no calls or letters for or against the request.
