Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning and Zoning recommends approval for Highlands at Bates Drive mixed‑use plan
Summary
The Waxahachie Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 14 recommended approval of a plan‑development rezoning for a 15‑acre mixed‑use project at Bates Drive that would add 340 multifamily units, ground‑floor commercial space, a hotel and a car wash, subject to staff conditions and traffic‑study improvements.
The Waxahachie Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday recommended approval of a plan‑development rezoning for the Highlands at Bates Drive, a proposed mixed‑use development on just over 15 acres south of 2001 Bates Drive.
Staff said the plan calls for four five‑story vertical mixed‑use buildings with ground‑floor commercial space and 340 multifamily units above, plus a five‑story hotel and nonresidential uses including a 3,600‑square‑foot drive‑through restaurant and a drive‑through car wash with 23 vacuum/detail bays. The project site lies adjacent to Highway 287 and Novilla Road and is designed with internal access points and mutual‑access easements to reduce external driveway pressure.
The project would depart from the base mixed‑use residential standards in two main ways: an increase in maximum building height from four to five stories and reduced attached‑garage parking for the multifamily buildings. Staff noted the overall site parking requirement of 744 spaces and said the mixed‑use portion required 610 spaces; the applicant proposes 623 surface spaces for the mixed‑use portion and up to 10 covered canopy spaces, rather than the ordinance's typical requirement that 50% of multifamily parking be provided as attached garages.
“It's probably about a hundred and $40,000,000 ad valorem tax base,” developer Mark Samuelson said when describing the project's potential fiscal impact and the site's market appeal.
Zoning staff described a detailed site plan showing pedestrian amenities, clustered canopy and ornamental trees, landscaped detention areas with sidewalks and seating, a six‑foot masonry wall along the southern edge, and a photometric plan the city found compliant with Waxahachie lighting standards. Staff also said the applicant is coordinating a traffic impact analysis; recommended off‑site improvements so far include a dedicated right‑turn entrance from Ovilla Road into the site and a protected left‑turn lane from northbound Ovilla Road into the development.
During public comment, resident Kathy Casel questioned the adequacy of notice to nearby homeowners; staff responded that mandatory notices followed state law and the city's practice of mailed letters to owners within 200 feet, signage on the property and a newspaper notice. Commissioners discussed truck parking on adjacent roads and the plan's private access easements intended to add alternate circulation routes to the existing office building to the north.
A commissioner moved to recommend approval of CDC‑01‑2024 (the Highlands at Bates Drive plan development) subject to the conditions in the staff report; the commission voted to carry the motion. The item will proceed to the city council through the city's standard review and approval process.
