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Planning commission backs final plat for Leon Reserve Phase 2 despite staff objection; council to consider exception for subdivision entrance standard
Summary
The Planning & Zoning Commission voted unanimously to forward a recommendation to council to approve the final plat for Leon Reserve Phase 2, a proposed single-family subdivision of roughly 386 lots, despite staff advising against the requested exception for subdivision-entry standards.
The Planning & Zoning Commission voted unanimously to forward a recommendation to council to approve the final plat for Leon Reserve Phase 2, a proposed single-family subdivision of roughly 386 lots, even though city staff recommended denial of the applicant’s requested exception to the city’s subdivision-entry standard.
Mister Cameron, staff member (planning), summarized the staff position: under the subdivision code, a development with more than 300 dwelling units requires either three standard-design entrances or an equivalent set of alternate-design entrances assuring emergency-vehicle access. He said the proposed plat provides two improved access points onto FM 93 and that staff concluded the plan lacked the third required access, and therefore “staff is not recommending approval of this exception.”
Travis Parks, attorney for the applicant, argued the development meets the numerical requirement when the alternate-design entries are interpreted as written in the city’s design figures. Parks pointed to the subdivision table and figure callouts, saying that an alternate-design entrance with a median and sufficient curb-to-curb width “is the equivalent of two entrances,” and that the two access points onto FM 93 should be counted under that provision to satisfy the three-entrance threshold.
Planning commissioners debated the competing interpretations and voted to forward approval to council; the commission motion and vote were recorded at the planning meeting. City staff said a future connection via Cross Timbers Boulevard could supply a third entrance in the long term but that the current final plat submittal does not provide the on-ground third connection that staff believes the code requires for an immediate exception.
Council will receive the final plat and the exception request on a future agenda. The workshop contained extended debate over code interpretation and emergency access concerns, and no council action was taken at the workshop.
