The Manor Planning and Zoning Commission moved to advance staff’s recommendation to deny a specific-use permit for a commercial gas station proposed in the Okra subdivision. The request covered one 4.111-acre lot at the Old Manor–Taylor Road and FM 973 intersection, proposing eight multi-product dispensers (MPDs) and four electric-vehicle chargers. Commissioner Estes Lind moved to advance the staff recommendation to deny; Commissioner Myers seconded and the motion passed by voice vote.

City staff said the proposed gas station is not necessarily the highest and best use for the parcel given the number of existing and planned gas stations in close proximity — including one under construction along FM 973 and another at the 290/973 intersection — and therefore recommended denial. The developer, Rachel Shanks, said the Okra project’s four acres are fully usable because the subdivision handles detention collectively; she argued that nearby stations are very busy and that the site’s design is intended to provide contiguous commercial access with adjacent Monarch commercial entitlements and a planned traffic signal.

Ms. Shanks said the property was rezoned to C-2 with some uses limited when prior entitlements were approved; she described the project as intended to support a gas station on part of the site with the remainder accommodating a strip center if a pump station was allowed, and noted that the building square footage could be used for other commercial purposes if the SUP were denied. Staff noted that the city has a lift station and joint-access easements in the area and that further technical design would be required if a gas station were to proceed.

The commission voted to advance the recommendation to deny the SUP; the transcript records the motion and second but does not give a roll-call tally. The developer indicated she will address access, detention and design issues in future applications if the SUP is not approved.