Commission recommends Planned Development for Dixie Farm site for RV and boat storage, 7-0

The Pearland Planning and Zoning Commission voted 7-0 Monday to recommend approval of a zoning change to a Planned Development (PD) for roughly 15.91 acres northeast of Dixie Farm Road and Main Street to allow an RV, trailer and boat storage facility.

Planner Patrick Bauer summarized revisions since the item’s March hearing and said the number of storage units had not changed: “it’s still a 31 covered spaces for storage and 246 fully enclosed units,” and staff said the applicant had addressed several earlier concerns about driveway configuration, landscaping, façade articulation and fencing.

Bauer told commissioners the applicant revised the PD to show a 35-foot shared driveway with the adjacent property to the southwest, clarified stacking so required spaces would be interior to the gated facility, and added detailed plant-spacing and height standards to the PD text for landscaping along the fence and pipeline easement. The PD reduces the articulation requirement for the three buildings facing Dixie Farm Road to one foot of depth for each 20 feet of frontage (from one foot per 10 feet) and reduces the required transparency from 15% to 5% for security and to screen stored contents.

Applicants Jay and Paige McKee, who represent Dixie Farm Property LLC, said they preferred to preserve the existing vegetation along the frontage as a buffer from the neighboring landfill and explained materials preferences including an 8-foot SymTech wall that they said resembles masonry and has a 25-year warranty. Paige McKee said much of the development would be hidden behind about a half-acre of frontage vegetation and that the project is “a $6,000,000 project” intended as a high-end facility.

Commissioners asked about retention and proximity to the landfill; the applicants said the detention area would sit inside the property and that there is roughly a 10-foot minimum distance from the property line to the detention area based on the submitted drawings. Commissioner remarks were generally supportive of the revised façade and landscaping details, and the commission voted 7-0 to recommend the zone change as presented with the revised PD document.

Staff noted the proposed self-storage use is not consistent with the city’s Professional Services place type in the comprehensive plan but found the use compatible with surrounding industrial uses and serving as a transition between Dixie Farm Road and the landfill; staff concluded the PD met five of seven PD approval criteria and recommended approval with the revised PD text.