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Thursday, April 15
BERGHEIM • BOERNE • COMFORT • FAIR OAKS • KENDALIA • SISTERDALE • WARING • WELFARE
Artist rendering of the Town House Development
APRIL 12 MEETING
Planned Unit Development Decisions Christina Ryrholm Hill Country Weekly The Planning and Zoning commission met on Monday April 12 with all commissioners attending in person but the majority of participants joined in by zoom. Chairman Tim Bannwolf conducted the meeting with Patrick Cohoon, Bob Cates, Joe, Anzollitto, Bill Bird, Chesney Dunning and new commissioner Lucas Hilar sitting in their usual seats. Hilar replaced Ricky Gleason who moved and was no longer eligible to be a commissioner. The first agenda item was to approve or deny a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for 18 townhomes between Stahl Street and South Plant Street. This is referred to as in-fill development and is one of the goals of Boerne City Council. There are various pockets of vacant land throughout the city and by filling in these areas where services are already
being provided is a cost effective goal. The PUD is a flexible way to proceed without having to obtain multiple variances. The public is also able to preview the planned development. The PUD identifies the lots, streets, open spaces and other aspects of the planned development and is the first step in the process. If approved the developer (Trophy Properties) will then need to get the land rezoned, the overlay district will then be applied and platting will occur. Currently the plan is for 18 three story units each with a private elevator and includes 12% open space on the 1.27 acres. On March 30 a BOND (Boerne Open Neighborhood Discussion) was held where all neighbors within 400 feet were invited but only five attended. On hand were Jay Parker (Trophy Properties), Ken Kolacny (Matkin/Hoover Engineer) and Frank Valdez (SA Partnership Architects) to explain the proposed development. The target market will be older couples and empty nesters. It was an unanimous vote to approve the PUD and recommend it to the city council. The agenda item for Racer Classic Car Wash did not fare as well. They have already purchased the property on the corner of South Main Street and Christus Parkway where Herbst Veterinary Clinic used to be. The area has two overlay districts to contend with the SoBo (South Boerne) and Corridor Entrance. Although a car wash is permitted as the zoning currently stands open bays are not and regardless of how the car wash is aligned open bays will face one street or the other. Landscaping was proposed as a creative alternative. The commissioners had questions about not only the landscape but the number of lanes, the number of cars in the queue, water reclamation, noise levels and oil service (none expected). The owners already have eleven other locations and thus a good deal of experience of what works and what doesn’t. They anticipate having enough
lanes to move cars along and not having a wait longer than ten minutes. However, many of the questions asked were not able to be answered at that time. Rather than deny the request the item was tabled to allow Racer Classic Car Wash come back at a later meeting and offer an alternative to the creative alternative presented. Two other items were approved with little discussion. One was the overlay for the PUD for almost seven acres in the Commons at Menger Creek. This was the final step for 70 townhomes that was approved by both city council and the P&Z Commission back in February. No comments were received from all neighbors that had been notified. The other was a request for conditional approval for a development plat of two and a half acres in the city’s ETJ located on the frontage Road at 38875 I-H 10 referred to as Spenrath. A portion of the property lies within the FEMA flood zone. With a planned new office building and removing existing impervious cover the net result will be a zero increase of impervious cover on the site. During the public comments section two individuals spoke to the ongoing progress of addressing issues with the Unified Development code (UDC), the zoning map and definitions of uses. Chairman Bannwolf stated that it was a fluid situation and all concerns were being taken seriously.
The Town House Development
