SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
Planning and Directing Growth in Bryan Texas Toward a Sustainable Future
Who is in charge around here?
In Bryan, Texas, balancing the short and long term development goals of its citizens is the responsibility of the Development Services department. Development Services plays a fundamental role in enhancing and maintaining the sustainability of the City of Bryan. The department provides local citizens and development professionals with the information and support they need to expeditiously and safely plan, design and build quality commercial and residential projects throughout the city.
What is the plan?
As recently as 2006, the citizens of Bryan participated in a project to update the city’s long range planning tool. This Comprehensive Plan provides a vision to guide Bryan’s growth and development for the near term and for years to come. It is a decision making tool whereby proposals for land use can be evaluated in the context of the City’s long-term vision. It is the framework for the establishment of zoning and other land regulatory tools
When are we going to start?
After it was introduced 30 years ago, the phrase "think globally, act locally" became an environmental rallying cry for an entire generation. Yet the grand vision it inspired—of communities mobilizing to take responsibility for the health of the planet starting in their own backyards—remained more a slogan than reality. Now, local environmental activism is getting a new lease on life, sparked by a public backlash against runaway and poorly planned development of cities and towns, widely known as "sprawl."
The alternative to sprawl isn't a halt to growth. The population of Bryan is expected to increase by 100 percent in the first half of the 21st century. Those additional 70,000 people will need places to live, work, shop, and play. The question is not whether we will build new homes, offices, shops and movie theatres to accommodate them, but where we will build them and how. If we allow sprawl to continue, we can expect additional loss of open space as well as more dependence on cars and an increase in the pollution they produce.
Where are we going to do it?
Even before it was recognized as a green solution to sprawl and a path to sustainability, Bryan’s land use planning policies have been weighted to encourage re-investment, re-development and in-fill development within existing city boundaries and service areas. In 2006, the comprehensive planning process revealed that our citizens rank improving what we already have as of primary importance. Investments of city resources over the past 20 years have been focused on improving and maintaining existing infrastructure. Examples include:
Downtown Master Plan and completion of its first two phases. Funding for phase three committed.
Examples include:
- Downtown Master Plan and completion of its first two phases. Funding for phase three committed.
- Corridor planning to provide guidance for public and private reinvestment along primary transportation axis through Bryan
- Central Business Corridor plan and overlay zoning
- College Avenue Corridor plan and rezoning
- Texas Avenue Study & Master plan
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