Navasota council names impact-fee advisory panel and reconstitutes TIRZ board; mayor named chair

The Navasota City Council on Oct. 27 voted to appoint a Capital Improvements Advisory Committee to advise the city's ongoing impact-fee study and reconstituted the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 board, leaving two seats open for future recruitment and naming the mayor as chair for a one-year term.

Development Services Director Lupe D’Eustato told the council the committee is a required component of the impact-fee process and that state law now requires that roughly half of members be from the real-estate or development community. Staff proposed a five-member panel that would include the planning-and-zoning chair “so that if that chair changes … you don't have to come back and redo anything,” D’Eustato said.

Council moved and approved appointments to the advisory committee; the motion named local applicants to the five required seats and confirmed the advisory, limited scope and rotating terms for the group.

On the TIRZ board, staff asked the council to reestablish the board’s positions. Because other taxing entities did not participate, the city can fill two additional seats. Council agreed to appoint council positions 1 through 5 to the TIRZ board and to postpone filling positions 6 and 7 until the city recruits residents or other appointees. The council then approved a motion to appoint the mayor as chair of the TIRZ board for a one-year term.

All actions were approved by voice vote. Staff said the advisory committee will review capital planning and provide semiannual reports; the TIRZ reappointments set staggered terms so some seats expire in 2026 and others in 2027. The appointments do not create permanent city boards beyond the statutory requirements; staff described both bodies as advisory and subject to term limits and role changes.