A new location of The PREP Schools is slated to be developed at the front of the Caliterra subdivision.

The gist

A 4.98-acre lot was rezoned for retail use for the development of the new school at 26025 RR 12, Dripping Springs.

The sale of the property is expected to close Nov. 4, with the school opening for the 2027 school year. This would be the third location of The PREP Schools in the Dripping Springs area, and it would serve children ages 6-12.

Diving deeper

The PREP Schools representatives applied for the lot to be rezoned from an Agricultural district to a General Retail-Conditional Overlay (GA-CO) district, which Dripping Springs City Council approved at an Oct. 21 meeting.

The conditional overlay sets certain restrictions for the lot. There are only 16 permitted uses of the land, including:

• Pharmacies
• Schools
• Medical clinics
• Day camps
• Bakeries
• Dance studios

“If we were to move to just a straight [General Retail] base zoning without a conditional overlay, then we would have up to 128 potential land uses,” Senior Planner Sara Varvarigos said. “Some of which ... reasonable minds could agree are not compatible with residential uses backing up to the property.”

Additionally, the conditional overlay requires 30 feet of landscape buffer at a property line that backs up to residential properties. Future developments on this lot must adhere to the same conditions.

The background

This area was annexed into the Dripping Springs city limits in 2015. According to Caliterra's conceptual plan documents that were presented at the meeting, this lot was originally planned for commercial use, with the understanding that it would need to be rezoned.

Additionally, the area in front of Caliterra was identified as a potential area for mixed-use activity on the conceptual Future Land Use Map of the city’s comprehensive plan.