A property owner whose rezoning request is turned down by the Aubrey City Council would be able to try again after nine months instead of a full year, under a package of zoning code changes going to the Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday, Nov. 12.
The commission holds a public hearing on the package at its 6 p.m. meeting in the council chambers at 226 Countryside Drive, then makes a recommendation to the council. City staff recommends approval, and as of the staff report no letters for or against had come in.
Taking site plans off the plat clock
The main change separates site plans from plats. Aubrey's code now handles both the same way, a practice the staff report traces to House Bill 3169, the 2019 state law that gave cities 30 days to act on plat applications. Some cities applied that deadline to site plans as well.
Plats divide land into lots for recording. Site plans are zoning tools that show whether a project meets standards for setbacks, parking, landscaping, lighting, utilities and building design. The city attorney recommended removing the language that treats them as plats, according to the report prepared by planner Helen-Eve Beadle.
Other changes in the package
- No more exemptions. Shopping centers and tracts under an acre would no longer be exempt from site plan approval. The report says smaller tracts often pose the biggest development challenges.
- Lighter first step for permits. Specific and conditional use permits would need a preliminary site plan rather than a full one. The report's example is that a utility plan adds nothing to the review of a liquor store permit.
- Concept plans for planned developments. A concept plan would replace the detailed development site plan now required with planned development zoning requests, though applicants could still file a full site plan.
- Lighting plans. A lighting and photometric plan would be added to the requirements, matching building rules that already call for commission approval of one.
- Landscaping and buffers. Buffer and landscaping rules would apply to all new commercial and multifamily construction, without a size cutoff for new buildings, according to the staff summary.
- Hearing notices. Mailed notice would still go to owners within 200 feet of a rezoning request. The code would drop an extra requirement to notify owners within 200 feet of other land held by the same owner next to the tract, which the report calls highly unusual and not part of state law.
The commission's agenda also includes a public hearing on new manufactured housing rules and preliminary plats for the Covey Creek and Sherman Ridge subdivisions.
Sources
aubreytx.api.civicclerk.com
aubreytx.api.civicclerk.com
