Lakeway City Council approved amendments to the special use and conditional use permitting processes May 18 and recommended that the changes be presented at the next Zoning and Planning Commission meeting for further approval.
The changes were made following an April 20 City Council meeting in an effort to modernize the permitting process and include removing the duration requirement, removing transfer restrictions related to ownership changes, refining the list of special use permit and conditional use permit uses and streamlining the permit approval process.
The background
Lakeway’s current special use permit and conditional use permit framework requires discretionary approval for many commercial uses located near residential areas.
This results in otherwise compatible commercial uses being required to obtain a special use permit if the business is located within 300 feet of residential or school property.
A public hearing process is then required before both the Zoning and Planning Commission and City Council.
The details
One of the changes proposed includes removing the duration requirement for special use permits.
Formerly, many special use permits had a duration of 99 years, Molis said.
“Nobody here is going to be around in 99 years, let alone will the electronic medium that it’s recorded on be readable in 99 years,” Mayor Tom Kilgore said.
Another change made is the transferability of special use permits.
Now, special use permits will remain valid upon the transfer of ownership or business as long as the use remains similar and no material or operational site changes occur.
Several changes to the list of special use permit and conditional use permit uses were also made.
C-1, or office/retail, uses now permitted by right include:
- Medical offices
- Restaurants
- Fast food (subject to separate drive-thru provisions if applicable)
- Grocery stores
- Catering services
- Hardware stores
- Movie theaters
- Drugstores
- Financial institutions
- General retail sales
- Antique shops
- Art galleries
- Personal services
- Beauty salons
- Barbershops
- Florists
- Laundry and dry cleaning
- Child care facilities
- Health/exercise clubs
- Nonvehicle consumer repair services
What’s nextThe amended process will be presented to the Zoning and Planning Commission in June.
