Planning and Zoning Commission approves off-site parking variance for Coconuts building, contingent on final plans and recorded agreement

On July 24, 2025, the South Padre Island Planning and Zoning Commission approved a variance request from BGSPI LLC that would allow off-site parking to serve a proposed commercial building on Lot 2, Block 30, Padre Beach Section 3 (the Coconuts building), contingent on final construction plans being approved by the city and an off-site parking agreement being recorded with Cameron County.

The variance was the subject of extended public comment and debate because it would permit a parking area that opponents say lies far beyond the off-site distance set in the city's Chapter 20 off-site parking rules. Commissioners voted to approve the variance while adopting the commission's discussion of hardship as part of the record; the motion carried with one opposed and one abstention, and the approval remains conditional on the items the commission listed.

The request came to the commission after several months of preliminary work and an ordinance change that commissioners said caused confusion over whether shared-parking rules in the form-based code or off-site parking rules in Chapter 20 apply. Alex Sanchez, a city planning/staff speaker, told the commission the item had been on the agenda previously and that staff had prepared a revised off-site parking agreement. Sanchez read two written objections into the record that had been emailed to staff: one from Jean Bagley and one from Bob Freitman.

Jean Bagley's email said, "I would like to voice my opposition to the requested variance. As a former chairman of the planning and zoning board, I believe that the request of 694 feet will set an unreasonable precedent for future…