Bastrop city officials will present a final draft of its upcoming Bastrop Development Code during a March 24 public hearing at the next Bastrop City Council meeting.
The new framework, which will replace the Bastrop Building Block, or B3, Code, is intended to better direct and manage the future growth, according to city documents.
What we know
Brittany Epling, a senior planner with the city of Bastrop, told Bastrop City Council during a Dec. 16 meeting the planned Bastrop Development Code will keep “the most important intentions” of the B3 Code and ensure that regulations are “clearer, simpler and more predictable to administer.”
“The Bastrop Development Code is intended to guide land use and development through clear standards and consistent procedures so that growth remains authentically Bastrop, fiscally and environmentally sustainable, and thoughtfully planned to meet future needs,” she said in a staff report.
Some background
Epling added that the Bastrop Development Code, unlike the B3 Code, will be a Euclidean-based zoning ordinance, which separates land use by type, and will focus on the following areas:
- Clearly named zoning districts with development standards, such as lot size, setback and building height
- A comprehensive landscape ordinance and a consolidated tree mitigation ordinance
- Required minimum off-street parking table for commercial uses
- Special districts and overlays
- Sidewalk and access/connectivity standards
- An updated sign code
- Updated procedures and implementation tools
The Development Services Department presented a second draft of the Bastrop Development Code to Bastrop City Council during the Dec. 16 meeting, and has since made further revisions after holding a joint workshop and seeking legal counsel.
Key updates to the second draft include:
- Refined and clarified use definitions to reduce ambiguity
- Removed short-term rentals from zoning and removed no-impact home-based businesses from zoning regulation
- Removed agriculture use table and urban farming provisions based on legal guidance agriculture is highly sensitive to regulate through zoning
- Additional definition cleanup and terminology consistency edits
- Added basic standards for recycling facilities
- Updated sign provisions for stronger alignment with state law
The outlook
If council members give the Bastrop Development Code the greenlight during the March 24 meeting, a second reading will be held April 14, according to a city notice.
Notable quote
"I would say this is a code that truly protects historic Bastrop," Bastrop City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino said during a Feb. 26 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. "It lets Bastrop remain the quaint little town with a historic heart and core, and lets all the growth and the noise happen in the periphery."
