Brownsville planning commission approves draft Medical Overlay District after public questions on taxes, traffic and buffers

The Brownsville Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday approved a draft ordinance to create a Medical Overlay District and amend several sections of the city’s Unified Development Code, the panel’s staff and outside consultants said.

The ordinance (listed in the meeting packet as ordinance number 2025-235.118) would establish a Medical Overlay District focused on medical services and biosciences uses on the east side of Interstate 69 East, generally north and south of East Alton Gloor. The draft ordinance updates UDC Article 4 (zoning regulations), Article 6 (landscaping) and the definitions to add the new overlay and to clarify permitted uses and development standards.

The ordinance’s sponsor, planning staff member Martin Vega, said the overlay is designed to “ensure development is compatible with the health care and biosciences facilities” and to support economic activity where medical uses already cluster. A consultant from Freese and Nichols told the commission the draft ordinance enumerates primary medical uses such as hospitals, surgery centers, freestanding…