Commission recommends planned‑development rezoning for travel center at NE Loop 363 with overnight‑parking restriction

The City of Temple Planning and Zoning Commission recommended 5–1 on Monday that City Council approve a planned development rezoning (case FY25‑10‑ZC) for about 4.9 acres at 16803 Northeast HK Dodgen Loop (State Loop 363) to allow a convenience store with fuel sales and associated retail uses.

Principal planner Jason Daigman said the applicant’s site plan shows a primary travel‑center building of roughly 8,000 square feet, a smaller 3,200‑square‑foot retail building, six gasoline fueling positions and three diesel fueling positions, plus 13 long (70‑foot) parking spaces intended for large trucks. Daigman noted staff’s recommendation to rezone to a planned development rather than a straight general‑retail (GR) zoning in order to attach conditions addressing access, sidewalks, buffering and traffic impacts.

Daigman said hydraulic and utility constraints will shape allowable uses: water and sewer lines are not currently adjacent to the parcel, and the applicant proposes septic service pending approval by the Bell County Health Department. Lina Chatey of Belton Engineering told the commission that because the site will be served by septic, “a fast‑food restaurant…would be very complicated for it to be supported…