During its Feb. 20 meeting, the Tomball City Council voted 4-1 to approve a rezoning request from RIAA Group LLC, rezoning about 3.12 acres located at 1635 S. Cherry St., Tomball, from agricultural to general retail, according to the Feb. 20 agenda packet. Council Member Randy Parr voted against.

“The applicants are requesting to rezone the property to general retail to allow for the development of a retail center and convenience store at that corner,” Tomball Community Development Director Nathan Dietrich said during the meeting.

During the discussion of the rezoning request, Parr said he is not interested in retail being at the site.

“I don’t know that we need to see a gas station on every corner at every intersection in the city,” Parr said.

Council Member John Ford expressed his support for the potential development.

“It’s not unusual to see opposing gas stations across the street from each other,” Ford said. “This is kind of what this land use was meant to be. And I don’t have a problem with it.”

During discussion, council members initially expressed concern about the crime in the area, but Tomball Police Department Chief Jeffrey Bert said the area is not a “hot zone.”

“It is not someplace that we have ever deployed on because there’s a high crime there at all,” Bert said. “We just have the typical every-now-and-then event.”

Council Member Mark Stoll said he supported the rezoning because it adds another gas station to the city.

“When you start looking at the south side of town and all the new subdivisions that we have coming in, a lot of people need to have filling stations to fill up vehicles,” Stoll said. “And they don’t have that option right now.”