Planning commission forwards rezoning, approves final plat for Meridiana additions amid traffic, drainage questions

The Manvel Planning and Zoning Commission on May 27 voted to forward a recommendation to the City Council to rezone about 35.3 acres at 9825 South Masters from Open Single-Family Residential to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for inclusion in the Meridiana PUD and approved a related final plat for Meridiana Section 32C with conditions.

Staff told the commission the rezoning request is intended to add acreage to the Meridiana PUD to allow a “garden home” residential product — detached single-family homes on narrower, 50-foot-wide lots that still meet the minimum 6,300-square-foot lot area required in the single-family residential district. Joe (Development Services staff) told commissioners the public hearing and action were required under the Texas Local Government Code and that “staff is recommending approval.”

Why it matters: the change would add land to an existing PUD and allow a different housing product that staff and the applicant say fits the previously approved Meridiana plan. Commissioners and nearby residents said the most immediate community impacts to watch are traffic on Masters Road and Cumulus Drive and drainage into Chocolate Bayou and existing detention systems.

The applicant, Brad Switzer of EHRA, said the plan calls for garden-home product that is narrower in width but longer in depth so lot area remains consistent with the 6,300-square-foot minimum. Switzer told the commission the developer submitted a traffic memo the morning of the meeting and also has submitted a preliminary drainage plan. He said the plan would not include direct access to Masters Road: “We do not plan to have access on Masters. So there'll be two access points on Cumulus from this development, but no direct access to Masters.” He also said the developer will expand an existing detention pond (identified as Detention Pond U) and dedicate a drainage easement to the drainage district so the district can maintain Chocolate Bayou.

Neighbors and one property owner inside the rezoning area spoke during the public comment period. Dorothy Wynn, who identified herself as the owner under contract of 9825 Masters Road, said she supports adding her property to Meridiana and described existing drainage infrastructure: “We are surrounded by Meridiana. It only makes sense for it to go in. There was exits put onto Cumulus Drive when this was replatted for drainage that goes through my property…The drainage is already there.” A separate neighbor across the street said they opposed more houses.

Commissioners pressed the applicant and staff for details. One commissioner said, “I really want to see the drainage and the traffic report before I could, in good faith, vote for this,” citing concern that Cumulus and Masters could see additional traffic from roughly 104 more homes the applicant estimated. Staff replied the project is being reviewed in stages: the rezoning and general development plan amendment would allow the product while a detailed traffic impact analysis and a full drainage impact analysis would be submitted at the preliminary-plat and construction-plan stage. Staff also said the meridiana master traffic study exists and the developer’s memo would be incorporated into a more detailed amendment if needed.

Final plat action: the commission also considered and approved a final plat for Meridiana Section 32C, a subdivision/replat affecting approximately 9.163 acres (described in staff materials as a replat from portions of the Oliver Hall and HTN BRR Company surveys and as a partial replat of Meridiana Section 32B recorded under Brazoria County plat records document number 2023013762). Staff recommended approval with four conditions; commissioners voted to approve the final plat with those conditions. (The meeting record shows a conditional approval vote.)

Votes and next steps: the commission voted to forward a recommendation on the rezoning and to forward the related General Development Plan amendment to City Council for action. Staff and the applicant said additional engineering work — a detailed traffic-impact analysis and a drainage-impact analysis — will be required and reviewed at the preliminary-plat and construction-plan stages. City Council will consider the ordinance and the GDP amendment at upcoming meetings.

What stayed open: commissioners repeatedly asked that staff and the applicant ensure detailed traffic and drainage analyses are completed and reviewed before the final development approvals and construction permits. Staff said those studies have been or will be submitted and reviewed during the next stages of the plat and plan review process.