The council also voted to rezone about half of the land from a “future development district” and “agricultural ranch district” to a “heavy commercial district” and the other roughly half of the property from “future development district” to a “heavy industrial district.” The commercial district rezoning for the parcel sits along Posey Road and the heavy industrial rezoning sits along Transportation Way.
Heavy industrial zoning is considered the most intensive zoning district, according to city documents, and was recommended due to the surrounding land use in the area that includes an Ingram Readymix concrete plant, Transdev transportation services and other industrial uses.
Some council members wanted to see if the applicant would be open to restrictive covenants in the zoning approval. Some of those tossed around in conversation included restricting fuel sales.
“I can’t speak to what the end use will exactly be, but I can tell you what the end vision of the land owner will be,” said Burt Wellman, a representative of the developer with KFW Engineers and Surveying. “The reason for the two different zoning requests on the same property is kind of more ... for retail and sales,” he said, referring to the portion along Posey Road, adding that restaurants are also in consideration.
For the “heavy commercial district” section along Transportation Way, Wellman said any development would be in line with the adjacent Transdev bus facility.
For the annexation of the land and each rezoning consideration, the council voted 6-1, with Council Member Maxfield Baker dissenting.
Council also voted to rezone almost 65 acres of a 112-acre property near the intersection of Clovis Barker Road and Hwy. 123 from a “future development district” to a “light industrial district.” The vacant property is surrounded by warehouses, manufacturing facilities and other vacant properties.
“The owners of the property, as you'll see from the map that was shown earlier, only 65 of the 112 acres are being rezoned. So that way, we can leave the remainder of the property undevelopable as green space,” said Pam Madere of Jackson Walker, LLP, speaking on behalf of the McCoy Family Partnership One, the owners of the property.
Council members voted to add a restrictive covenant to the rezoning that would prevent waste-related services. That passed 5-2, with council members Jude Prather and Shane Scott dissenting.
The zoning change passed 6-1, with Baker dissenting. Each item was passed on first reading and will come before the council a second time.
