COLLEGE STATION — The city council meeting Thursday in College Station stretched beyond midnight as city leaders discussed a long list of agenda items, including off-campus housing, zoning, and emergency services.
The housing issue stems from complaints about ordinance violations among Texas A&M students. The College Station ordinance limits a residence to no more than four non-related people.
On Thursday evening, the university's Vice President of Student Affairs addressed the council with plans to prevent future issues by creating a list of approved locations for students, along with creating a housing advisory group. Enforcement of the current ordinance could be paused even longer, with the university expected to request an extension beyond the end of the spring semester.
The city is also looking into zoning changes for neighborhoods around the city as an option to ease off-campus housing placement limitations.
Meanwhile, emergency service response between College Station and Bryan was also discussed.
The College Station Fire Department presented data showing the city provides more services to Bryan under automatic aid than Bryan provides to College Station. Discussions to address this include changing from automatic to mutual aid on some calls, which would give College Station the option to reject a request for response.
Another consideration includes a set fee Bryan would pay for each service run provided by College Station. Before the meeting ended, city leaders agreed to continue negotiations with Bryan in hopes of reaching an agreement.