by Nicole Bradford
The state’s expansion of Broadway Street will present particular challenges for businesses along the busy commercial corridor.
Businesses losing right-of-way to progress will also be left with properties that no longer meet the requirements for setbacks, landscaping, and parking, earning the city’s label of “non-conforming.” But Pearland leaders say an ongoing update to city codes will likely consider circumstances such as right-of-way acquisitions.
“Through no fault of their own, these noncompliance issues are happening,” Mayor Kevin Cole said during an April workshop on the city’s Universal Development Code. “I just think we need to be real careful here.”
The April 14 discussion among City Council and the Planning and Zoning Commission members centered on the ongoing update of the Universal Development Code, or UDC. The months-long, multi-phase update is being undertaken to make city codes clearer and more user-friendly and build flexibility for future development. During the workshop, members discussed adding city codes that address properties that don’t conform to regulations because of losing the right-of-way.
Businesses that have taken the right-of-way for projects such as FM 518 should be shielded, Cole said, from negative impacts both now and in the future. The state’s right-of-way acquisition for the Broadway widening will affect approximately 17 properties.
“Everyone is going to be made whole, or as whole as we can be. Each of those negotiations is with the individual property owners,” said Martin Griggs, assistant director of Community Development. “From a city perspective, know we’re going to have a variety of nonconformities and a variety of buildings that have been developed over time.”
