The big picture
City Council voted unanimously July 18 to indefinitely postpone action on a recommendation made by the zoning commission June 26 to rezone 205 W. Bitters Road from residential to business and office space.
Local leaders and residents have long debated what to do with the abandoned residential parcel, which has an 1,805-square-foot home built in 1952, before Hill Country Village formally became an incorporated city. The house has over time become shrouded by foliage, and some residents have said it is an eyesore.
Hamid Azari is listed by the city as the current property owner.
Commercial real estate company CBRE is offering to broker the sale of 205 W. Bitters with approved rezoning, as CBRE envisions the site as an ideal setting for a small medical office building.
City officials have seen several requests to rezone the 1.42-acre tract from residential to business and office space, with many residents opposing such requests, citing concerns about traffic and incompatibility with the residential surroundings.
The conditions
At the July 18 council meeting, land use attorney Rob Killen said the requested business/office zoning of B-4 is the least intense commercial zoning available in Hill Country Village. He added that the arrival of businesses across Bitters Road, inside San Antonio city limits, in recent decades means 205 W. Bitters Road is more suitable as a commercial property than a residential tract.
"What (zoning) was appropriate in 1955 is no longer appropriate for 2024,” Killen said.
But neighboring property owners, such as dentist Brian Beck and attorney Jeff Bernstein, expressed their opposition to the rezoning proposal.
Beck said he does not like the idea of what has long been a residential property becoming commercial yet still bordered by other residential tracts.
"If you lived next to this property, would you want these businesses put up next to your house?” Beck asked council members.
Bernstein runs his law practice from an office building at 203 W. Bitters Road, next to the property in question. He said the city should instead use existing codes to force the property owner to clean up the land.
Bernstein also said the proposed medical office building looks incompatible with the surrounding Hill Country Village residential properties.
Additionally, Bernstein accused city officials of spending an inordinate amount of time weighing the fate of 205 W. Bitters Road while other city matters languish, a complaint echoed by some Hill Country Village residents attending the council meeting.
Bernstein also said he felt the city did not adequately notify him as a neighboring property owner prior to council’s public hearing on the rezoning request. Council member Matthew Acock focused on Bernstein’s complaint, and asked if the North East ISD, as a local and possibly affected property owner, also received notice about the rezoning request. City staff said NEISD had not been notified.
The bottom line
Council member Tom Doyle said he agreed with many neighboring property owners who are weary of the rezoning request. He added that maybe the owner of 205 W. Bitters should instead consider a different type of residential zoning category for the land.
"I have concerns. There [are] a number of citizens who have concerns,” Doyle said.
Council member Allison Francis said she understood how the infusion of businesses along Bitters Road could prompt the property owner at 205 W. Bitters to want to rezone the land for commercial purposes. But she added that city leadership and many neighbors have problems with the rezoning proposal.
Following multiple council parliamentary motions and tense exchanges, council agreed to postpone further consideration of the existing rezoning request and to ask the zoning commission to do a full analysis of the rezoning issue and return to council with another recommendation.
