College Station's council reviewed one of the quieter but most consequential questions in a growing city Thursday, how much of a lot can be paved or built over, and decided not to change the rules yet.
The workshop item followed a presentation by the College Station Association of Neighborhoods about impervious cover in the Big Creek drainage basin. Impervious cover, the rooftops, driveways and pavement that keep rain from soaking into the ground, drives how much stormwater runs off a site and where it goes.
What the neighborhoods asked for
Lucas Harper of Planning and Development Services said the association's requests included allowing impervious-cover exceptions in the middle housing zoning district while restricting them in general suburban, and requiring any general suburban exception to go before the zoning board of adjustment.
Staff did not recommend changes. Harper told the council the unified development ordinance already allows exceptions to impervious limits in both districts through an engineered drainage analysis, a process that evaluates both flood-control detention for downstream impacts and the conveyance path from the site to the primary drainage system.
