Tomball City Council discussed the UDC, with a focus on parking and land use during its June 2 workshop meeting.
What this means
The UDC is intended to address outdated land use standards, resolve long-standing parking issues and ensure the city’s codes comply with state laws, Community Development Director Craig Meyers said in the June 2 workshop meeting.
The UDC will include provisions on zoning district standards, land use charts, parking ratios, development procedures, signage and public improvements—all of which are currently scattered across multiple city code chapters, Meyers said.
How we got here
Tomball’s existing development codes were first adopted in 2008 and have not been significantly updated since, Meyers said. Staff has worked with consulting firm Freese and Nichols for several months to identify local problem areas, including land use conflicts and under-parked developments.
An example discussed was a shopping center at Baker Drive and Hwy. 249, where existing parking barely meets code requirements and may fall short once a vacant tenant space is leased, Meyers said.
“62 parking spaces with available parking of 65 so there's a surplus of three. But I do want to point out ... there's a vacant space,” Meyers said. “So when that space gets filled, it'll come to our office and we'll have to figure out what to do at that point, more than likely, [the shopping center is] not going to have enough parking.”
Meyers said city staff believes that the landlord and or the owner of properties has to take anticipated uses into account when establishing a shopping center to prevent this from happening.
Currently, city staff looks at the retail center coming in and then designates parking needs based on the square footage per tenant, Meyers said.
Council member Lisa Covington questioned whether parking standards based on square footage make sense for high-traffic uses like nail salons or restaurants. Both types of businesses currently occupy the shopping center used as an example.
Also, council members raised concerns about how variances are granted through the city’s Board of Adjustments. Covington said the board, which is appointed and not elected, should be required to take a class and have an education handout prior to making exemptions.
What’s next
Freese and Nichols will return with a draft UDC for council feedback at a future meeting, with more detailed provisions on zoning, parking minimums, signage and other development regulations, Meyers said.
“I'd like to get them some preliminary feedback so when they do bring a draft here and give their presentation, that they have some of your comments addressed already,” Meyers said. “So they're better prepared ... this is a preview of coming attractions.”
City staff will continue gathering feedback from council members to inform the draft, particularly around land use compatibility, parking needs and redevelopment of older properties.
