Planning and Zoning Commission members recommended approval of the request during an Oct. 14 meeting. The action includes conditions for screening on the east and north sides of the gas station due to its proximity with a single-family neighborhood to the north.
McKinney City Council members will consider and take final action on the request at an Oct. 21 meeting.
The big picture
The specific use permit is being requested by Fort Worth-based Vaquero Ventures to allow passenger vehicle fuel sales at the proposed location. The property is zoned for neighborhood commercial uses, which does not allow vehicle fuel sales by right.
Austin Navarrette, acquisitions and development associate at Vaquero, said the goal was to serve daily needs of single-family homes located nearby. The development would include 12 fuel pumps, a 4,895-square-foot convenience store and 44 parking spaces, according to a letter of intent.
City staff are recommending denial of the requested permit since it’s believed the gas station would be better suited at one of the undeveloped corners, according to a city document. The permit is required since the distance between fuel pumps and the adjacent residential property line does not meet city standards.
City planner Jake Bennett said the proposed gas pumps would be located 180 feet from the adjacent property line, whereas the city requires 250 feet at minimum. If the gas station were to be located on either of the south corners, a specific use permit would not be required, Bennett said.
“We are in favor of the use at this intersection, but this is the one of the three undeveloped corners that has immediate residential adjacency existing today,” he said.
The action taken
Commission members unanimously voted to recommend approval of the permit request after discussion with city staff and the applicant. The motion included a condition that the project includes a solid wall on the north side, instead of a wrought iron fence with landscape buffering as project officials were planning, and vegetative screening on the east side.
A site plan attached to the agenda showed plans for a wrought iron fence with masonry columns and evergreen shrubs on the north side. Navarrette said project officials are happy to add landscaping on the east side of the property.
During discussion, commission members Gina Hammack, Jesse Conrad and Steve Lebo agreed that a full masonry wall on the north side would provide immediate relief to the adjacent homes compared to a wrought iron fence and shrubs that act as a landscape buffer.
“There would be a lot of car lights that would be blocked by a solid wall versus a wrought iron,” Lebo said.
