The details
Pearland City Council voted 3-4 at its Dec. 8 meeting to deny a conditional use permit to Houston-based Harry Gendel Architects, which sought to build a funeral home near the intersection of Hughes Road and Cullen Parkway.
A CUP is required for private, for-profit businesses within a mixed-use zoning district, according to city documents.
The request was for the district to accommodate the development of a 5,780-square-foot one-story building "to function as an event space to be used for ceremonies related to burials at the Paradise S. Cemetery on approximately 2.9 acres of land", according to city documents.
The background
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approving the zoning change at its Nov. 17 meeting, according to city documents.
After the P&Z meeting, the city received 17 written comments from residents opposing the development, city staff said.
The subject property is designated for public use in the Pearland 2040 Future Land Use Plan.
What they’re saying
Council members Rick Fernandez and Rushi Patel asked about the development’s parking capacity. Patel further inquired what the business would do about overflow parking, given that the space can hold roughly 160 people but only has 36 parking spaces.
Daniela Braganholo, an architect with Harry Gendel Architects, said that the current parking complies with what is permitted for the development.
Patel said he felt the unified development code needed to be revisited if that was the case.
“I just don’t think you have enough parking,” Patel said.
Council member Clint Byron said he hoped the upcoming UDC rewrite would simplify and clarify the process for businesses seeking permits in the city’s various zoning designations. For example, the applicant had to state the property as a recreation center, rather than a funeral home.
“This is the kind of stuff I hope we can address in the UDC to ensure that things like this can get done without such an involved process for the property owners,” Byron said at the meeting.
