Mesquite commission recommends rezoning of 11-acre site at I‑20 and Shannon Road

The Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Mesquite voted 6-0 April 28 to recommend approval of a rezoning for an approximately 11-acre property at the southwest corner of Interstate 20 and Shannon Road, advancing a planned development commercial project that would allow seven flex-office buildings.

The recommendation sends zoning application Z0125-0380 to the Mesquite City Council for final consideration on Monday, May 19. City staff recommended approval at the commission meeting, and two online public comments in the city's posting opposed the request; those comments appear to come from residents of the Hagen Hill subdivision southeast of the site.

Garrett Langford, Planning staff, briefed the commission on the application and said the property is currently zoned agricultural and is shown as commercial with corridor development on the city's future land use map. The applicant is proposing a planned development commercial district with modified development standards to allow a flex office development; the concept plan in the packet shows seven buildings, each up to about 14,000 square feet. Langford said, "The proposed plan development is in line with the comprehensive plan's future land use designation." He also told commissioners the application removes outdoor storage from earlier proposals and that staff recommended approval.

Applicant representative Matthias Halbert said the plan responds to previous feedback and replaces an earlier multifamily request the applicant withdrew after council concerns. Halbert said, "We came back with a revised plan that shows the flex office... outdoor storage was removed, and additional buildings were put there on the southern edge of the property." He told the commission the project could include a range of commercial tenants but that tenant selection will come later in the permitting and leasing process.

Key details included in the staff presentation and the proposed planned development: the site is roughly 11 acres with addresses listed as 5801 Shannon Road in the city's GIS and 5800 Shannon Road in the Dallas Central Appraisal District; the PD would prohibit outdoor storage as either a principal or accessory use; heavy-load vehicle parking (principally 18-wheelers) would be disallowed while trade-contractor vans and similar commercial vehicles would be permitted on site; chain-link and barbed-wire fencing would be prohibited; an eight-foot precast screening wall with tree buffer is required along portions of the site; and overhead bay doors for service areas may not face Shannon Road or the I‑20 frontage road.

The PD also lists uses that would be prohibited (excerpted in staff materials and the PD exhibits): alternative financial services, tobacco stores, and gifts/novelty stores. Major automotive repair and collision services would require a conditional use permit. The concept plan will be incorporated into the ordinance if the council adopts the rezoning; Langford said the ordinance language also allows minor site-plan adjustments for code or fire-marshal requirements so long as the changes do not increase the number of buildings shown on the concept plan.

Questions from commissioners addressed tree mitigation, heights and setbacks, screening, and address assignment. Langford and Halbert said a tree survey and mitigation plan will be required during site-plan review; protected species such as live oaks would either need to be retained or mitigated through replacement plantings or a fee-in-lieu calculation. The concept allowed buildings up to about three stories; Langford noted the maximum building height for commercial zoning is 75 feet and that setbacks adjacent to residentially zoned property follow the standard zoning rule (a 25-foot base or two times the building height, whichever applies).

The commission voted 6-0 to recommend approval of Z0125-0380 with the exhibits presented. The chair announced the application will go before the City Council on May 19. The commission also approved the consent agenda earlier in the meeting by a 6-0 vote.

What happens next: if City Council approves the rezoning, the applicant must complete site-plan review, a tree survey/mitigation plan, and address assignment with GIS and the fire marshal as part of permitting. The ordinance language ties the permitted uses and concept plan to the PD zoning, and the conditional use permit process will be required for the automotive-related uses listed in the application materials.