Planners recommend allowing 'warehouse office' in Pepper Creek Crossing with conditions

The Temple Planning and Zoning Commission voted April 21 to recommend City Council approve FY-24-33-ZC, an amendment and conditional-use permit to allow "warehouse office" uses in the general retail segment of the Pepper Creek Crossing development at 7040 Brookside Boulevard.

The matter matters because the change would alter permitted uses on about 75.248 acres near Airport Road, Leitner Lane and Prairie View Road and triggers multi-agency traffic and access improvements, a binding site plan and a phased buildout requirement intended to ensure retail storefronts are constructed before any warehouse-office units receive certificates of occupancy.

Senior neighborhood planner Christina Strickland told the commission the property is shown in the city's future land use plan as employment mixed use and that staff finds the requested conditional-use permit complies with the Unified Development Code. "Staff does recommend approval of the requested amendment ... and approve a conditional use permit to allow warehouse office within the general retail segment subject to those proposed conditions," she said. Staff described the conditions on the recorded plan that will remain in force and identified new requirements including a binding site plan, shared access easement to the property north of the site, and construction or reconstruction of Leitner Lane to neighborhood collector standards.

The developer's presentation said the project would mix five retail storefront buildings (about 18,000 square feet) and a series of small warehouse-office units (the applicant presented 35 units totaling roughly 9,000 square feet), with 301 required parking spaces and a proposed landscape plan that provides about 9.9% site landscaping and 5–13 foot buffers along a drainage corridor. Tom Stobbe, CEO of Virgil Development Group, described the concept as a hybrid business park and said the firm intends to keep the retail in phase 1. He told commissioners the overall project investment is roughly $16–18 million (about $20 million when factoring cost escalation) and estimated the site could support roughly 700–800 jobs over its lifecycle across direct, indirect and induced employment categories.

Traffic and access were central topics in the review. Project engineer Luke Carraway of Viewpoint Land Solutions said the traffic impact analysis recommends signalizing the Airport-Leitner intersection, installing a protected left-turn on Airport and right-turn deceleration lanes eastbound on Airport Road and at Brookside, and constructing right- and left-turn lanes on Leitner. "From a public safety standpoint, this would be a great benefit to the community," Carraway said. Staff noted the UDC requires warehouse-office uses to front a collector or higher classification roadway; the applicant will provide a 700-foot deceleration lane off Airport Road onto Leitner, per the TIA.

A resident speaker, Alan Lytle, raised concerns about downstream flooding, water/sewer capacity and refuse placement. Staff and the project team responded that water and wastewater service exist along Airport Road and that solid-waste staff reviewed and approved dumpster locations and approach requirements; the engineer said an existing channel and project drainage analysis were designed to convey a 100-year fully developed flow and that staff reviewed detention considerations for large upstream areas. Quoting the public commenter: "One that worries me most is flooding," Lytle told commissioners.

Staff also described public notice: 21 notices were mailed within the 200-foot notification boundary; five were returned in disagreement and staff noted one mailed notice represented 290 properties under a single ownership, which means City Council will require a supermajority vote to adopt the amendment.

A motion by Commissioner Rhodes, seconded by Commissioner Carney, recommended approval to City Council per staff recommendation (FY-24-33-ZC). Roll call votes recorded by Tiffany were: Commissioner Morales — Aye; Commissioner Walker — Aye; Commissioner Juracek — Aye; Commissioner Rhodes — Aye; Commissioner Carney — Aye; Chair Krause — Aye. The motion carried unanimously.

The commission's recommendation and the presentation materials — including the binding-site-plan requirement, traffic mitigation commitments, and the retail-first certificate-of-occupancy condition — will move to City Council for final action. Staff and the developer said they can present the drainage, water/sewer and solid-waste details at council as requested.