What happened?
The plan included a two-part ordinance that featured a land use amendment for future land use of office/commercial to low/medium density residential and a zoning change from agricultural district to residential planned unit development.
The initial plan was for 29 houses, but during the meeting a 27-lot plan was announced by John Huffman from The Huffman Group and Curtis Young from Sage Group, Inc.
Council Members Frances Scharli, Austin Reynolds, Chuck Taggart and Mayor Shawn McCaskill voted no while Dr. Randy Robbins, Kathy Talley and Randy Williamson voted in favor of the development.
The framework
The plan on the 21-acre tract was originally proposed at a May 6 meeting before being tabled, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
The reduction of the two lots made the remaining 27 lots 20,000 square feet or larger while the tree preservation was increased from 30% to 33% in the updated plan, according to the presentation. There would have been an 8-foot-tall masonry wall between the SH 114 frontage road and the houses facing the highway. According to the presentation, the houses would be 50 feet from the frontage road.
“I really understand that we're 94% built out, so the tracts that are left are really hard to work through, but we've got to be careful with them, too,” Reynolds said. “I would like to see a bigger setback. I mean, in a perfect world, the setback is 150 feet.”
McCaskill shared the same sentiment about the setback of the lots from the highway. He said drives through the Las Colinas area of Irving every day to get to work and sees houses close to SH 114.
“It may be OK for Las Colinas, but I’m not sure it works here,” he said. “I think we can do better, and I hope we can get there. I think we’ve seen that in the past, where sometimes we just say no and we get a better product or a better application.”
McCaskill said he was in favor of residential in the area more than an option for commercial, which is the current zoning.
Put in perspective
More than an hour and a half was dedicated to the development during the nearly three-hour meeting. Some public speakers at the meeting were against the development, while others, including neighboring HOAs, were in favor of it.
Robbins said the developers adjusted the requests asked at the May 6 meeting and was in favor of the project.
“It's really, in my opinion, best for the city,” he said. “When you look at it, we don't need more offices on [SH] 114 or anywhere else right now. These houses will get sold. They will generate tax revenue. They'll put kids in schools. This is what Southlake needs. This is what these residents want. I feel like these developers, they've jumped through every hoop we've asked them to, and we just keep changing the finish line for them.”
