La Porte council rezones portion of Fairmont Parkway site to PUD, approves special permit with ban on outdoor shipping containers

La Porte City Council on Tuesday approved changing the zoning on a 15.42-acre portion of a 130.56-acre property along West Fairmont Parkway to Planned Unit Development (PUD) and separately approved a special conditional use permit that sets allowable commercial and industrial uses and design standards across the entire parcel.

The rezoning (Ordinance 2024-4046) applies to the south portion of the larger tract and was adopted after a public hearing. The council later approved Special Conditional Use Permit SCUP2024-011 (Ordinance 2025-4047) for the full 130.56 acres, subject to restrictions including building size caps, architectural guidelines, screening of truck bays, paved outdoor work/storage areas, a prohibition on on-site hazardous materials storage and a 10-truck-per-day expectation in site conditions for certain uses. Councilmembers also amended the approved SCUP to add an explicit ban: “No shipping containers are permitted to be stored outside. Period.”

The PUD designation will make the entire parcel subject to the approved SCUP conditions and associated NAICS code lists, rather than allowing business-industrial uses by…