The biggest, most discussed topic at the most recent Navasota City Council meeting? Garages and carports.
That is, requiring them to be part of construction for new homes in Navasota. No decisions were made on Monday, but a discussion workshop was had on the subject.
Community development Director Guadalupe Diosdado discussed the ordinance they drafted, which would require new single family homes being built in town to have a garage or carport, either attached or detached, with at least 80 square feet of storage space.
“The idea behind that is to encourage people to store their yard equipment, and other things, in that storage facility, and not in the yard, or anywhere else. Just a way to encourage a little bit of storage use,” said Diosdado.
As of today in Navasota, there are requirements to build driveways, but no requirements on building garages or carports.
Councilman Bernie Gessner made his point that requiring such a thing does nothing for making housing more affordable for citizen’s.
“Lot of talk about affordable housing. I don’t know what the exact numbers are, but it seems to me, adding a two car carport or garage is going to add somewhere between $5,000 and $20,000 to the cost of the house. I do not see how that helps affordable housing,” said Gessner.
Council discussed various issues, which included the garages not being used properly, and also the value of the homes with making garages a mandatory thing. Also noted was that the city can make garages or carports mandatory, but cannot make requirements as far as the building material itself.
City Manager Brad Stafford said he and city staff looked around and compared this proposed ordinance to other cities around Texas. And results showed it is not a common practice.
“There was a survey that went out to a lot of city managers, and there were only four or five that has it as a requirement,” Stafford said.
Council took no action on the ordinance, as it was just a discussion workshop.
The city encourages citizen comments on the matter, and for any concerns, contact the city at 936-825-6475.
