Kevin O’Connor Kommentary January 29

Two state legislative committees hold hearings on a bill that would take away College Station’s ordinance limiting the number of unrelated occupants living together. Senate Bill 1567 and House Bill 2797, which applies only to university towns, would limit the number of occupants regardless of relationship based on the size of bedrooms and meeting health and safety standards. Another section of SB 1567 would prohibit university towns from requiring a property manager to hand over a lease to determine the number of unrelated occupants. The senate’s local government committee unanimously passed SB 1567, while the house land and resource management committee has not voted as of March 28 on HB 2797. Click HERE to read and download SB 1567 as passed by the senate local government committee on March 25, 2025. The legislative committee hearings were reviewed during Thursday’s College Station city council meeting. Councilman David White said he would “encourage people to watch it (the hearings) because there were some just false statements that were made regarding our city.” Councilwoman Melissa McIlhaney said “It is shocking to me that we can have a state senator take gross misinformation presented from multiple sources and without verification move straight to vilification.” The senate bill was written by Texas A&M graduate Paul Bettencourt of Houston. He brought up during the senate committee hearing, vehicles being tracked outside homes suspected of violating College Station’s unrelated occupant ordinance. While Bettencourt said the tracking was done by the city of College Station, that activity has been conducted by a group of residents known as the College Station Association of Neighborhoods (CSAN). The house bill was written by a former Texas A&M student government speaker. Cody Vasut of Angleton said during the house committee hearing that College Station’s ordinance “discriminate(s), most acutely against college students” and it “restricts private property rights.” Vasut says the ordinance “is indefensible” and is “un-American”. Click below to hear comments from the March 17, 2025 senate committee hearing, the March 27, 2025 house committee hearing, and the March 27, 2025 College Station city council meeting. Listen to “College Station city council reaction after legislative committee hearings to end a limit of how many unrelated people can live together” on Spreaker.

A Bryan fire department station is closed due to mold. BFD’s Facebook page does not give details of the extent of mold in station four, which is across Texas Avenue near Davila Middle School. The Facebook post also does not say how the mold was discovered or how long the building will be closed. Firefighters and equipment were moved out of station four to other locations.

A new Bryan ISD strategic planning committee has started collecting and reviewing data that could lead to a future bond election. A preview was given during Monday’s BISD board meeting (March 24) by district administrators. Additional information was provided Wednesday (March 26) by superintendent Ginger Carrabine during her visit on WTAW’s The Infomaniacs. The committee of nearly 90 people is scheduled to meet weekly through May 15th. Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the March 24, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting. Click below to hear comments from the March 24, 2025 Bryan ISD school board meeting and from BISD superintendent Ginger Carrabine’s visit March 26, 2025 on WTAW’s The Infomaniacs. Listen to “A new Bryan ISD strategic planning committee starts meeting that could lead to a bond electionn” on Spreaker.