Manvel planning commission rejects rezoning for gas station at Croix and Delbello; residents oppose over safety, wells and wildlife

The Planning Development Zoning Commission in Manvel, Texas voted 0-7 not to recommend ordinance 2025-O-04, a request to rezone about 12.6 acres at the southwest corner of Croix Road and Delbello Road to Light Commercial with a specific-use permit to allow NAICS 447110 (gasoline stations with convenience stores).

Staff presented the proposal and said the site would be subdivided into multiple retail pads including a 1.27-acre tract planned for a gas station and convenience store and a roughly 3.8-acre detention and septic spray-field area. Staff told the commission it could not make a recommendation because required information — notably a traffic impact analysis, preliminary drainage study and other site-plan details — had not been submitted.

The lack of infrastructure and neighborhood compatibility were central to the debate. The proposal drew more than a dozen public speakers, most of them residents who said the corner remains rural, the roads are narrow and unsafe, and nearby homes rely on private wells and septic systems. Angela Vickerman, who lives at 6003 Delbello Lane, said the area is “really residential or agricultural” and argued the “roads are tenuous” and already damaged. David Headley, a local business and property owner, told the commission, “It's it's horrendous. It's it's already bad” when describing current traffic patterns and drivers unfamiliar with the roads. Resident Prince Sanchez said the project “would make excess traffic, noise pollution, highway trash, speeding, and the disruption of agricultural life.”

Several residents raised environmental concerns tied to the proposal's septic system and potential fuel contamination of groundwater. Akila Amos, who said she lives on Del Bello Road, described her concerns about birds and night skies and asked the commission to consider impacts of lighting and groundwater: “How exactly does that affect our well water?”

The applicant's representative, who identified herself as working on behalf of the developer, told the commission the project is intended to function primarily as a convenience store that serves nearby residential areas rather than a highway-oriented gas stop. She said the developer has discussed roads and drainage with county and city officials and would address required environmental, fire-protection and drainage studies if the project moved forward, and described development as a phased process. “This is more convenience store than gas station,” she said.

Commission discussion focused on compatibility with the comprehensive plan and the thoroughfare plan, who would pay for road improvements, and whether the property would amount to spot zoning. Commissioners and staff noted one of the roads abutting the property lies in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) and that improvements could require coordination with TxDOT and the county; staff explained platting and escrow arrangements typically address how perimeter streets are completed when adjacent parcels develop.

After discussion, a commissioner moved to approve the ordinance as written; a second was made, and the motion failed by voice vote, 0-7. No recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council from this commission.

The item will appear on the City Council agenda in the next cycle; staff emphasized the commission's concerns about missing traffic and drainage studies and neighborhood impacts would be recorded for council consideration.