La Marque adopts heavy-industrial zoning after debate over west-side protections

La Marque — The La Marque City Council adopted ordinance O-2025-0003 on March 10, 2025, creating a heavy industrial zoning district after a public hearing and council debate over whether to add a boundary to keep heavy industrial uses east of Interstate 45.

The ordinance establishes a new zoning classification for heavier industrial uses; a separate second ordinance (O-2025-0004) on the same agenda rezoned property owned by Carter and Alexander LLC to Light Industrial (L-1) and was adopted on second reading. Proponents said the changes clarify where industrial uses are allowed; several residents urged limits to protect existing and planned residential neighborhoods.

Why it matters: The new heavy industrial district sets a framework that will be used if property owners ask to rezone their land to accommodate industrial operations. Residents and developers said the designation could affect future homebuilding and property values if the district expands without sufficient buffers.

At the council meeting, resident Robert Mishtich of 24 North Curlew asked the council to add a geographic boundary limiting heavy industrial zoning to the east side of I‑45 to protect existing and planned subdivisions on the west side. “If you make this a heavy industrial zone, it can kill that,” Mishtich said, pressing the council to place the boundary in the ordinance. He illustrated buffer concerns by noting that a 250‑foot setback “is just over 88 yards,” and that parking lots and perimeter lanes can consume that distance quickly.

City legal counsel responded that adding a boundary in the text amendment would represent a substantive change requiring a new public notice and hearing before second reading. “It would represent a substantial or a substantive change, and we would have to put it back in the newspaper for a public hearing,” the city attorney told the council, explaining the procedural and legal consequences of altering the ordinance language at final reading.

Council members who spoke said the public- hearing and subsequent rezoning process will still require owners to identify the exact parcels they want rezoned, triggering separate public notices and review by the planning and zoning commission before any property is changed from its current designation.

Votes at a glance: Ordinance O-2025-0003 (creating heavy industrial zoning): adopted at second reading; Ordinance O-2025-0004 (rezoning Carter and Alexander LLC from R‑1/C‑1 to L‑1): adopted at second reading. (Individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the meeting transcript.)

What’s next: The ordinance creates the zoning classification; property owners who seek to change a parcel’s zoning to heavy industrial must still file applications that require planning-and-zoning review, public notice and council action. Several residents asked the council to consider additional protections for west-side neighborhoods if later rezoning applications appear.

Sources: Public comments and council discussion at the March 10, 2025, La Marque City Council meeting; statements by Robert Mishtich and the city attorney recorded during the public hearing and second-reading discussion.