Council approves commercial zoning for corner lot on Southwood Drive, denies two adjacent lots

The Lufkin City Council approved rezoning of the corner lot at 4944 Southwood Drive to commercial while denying rezoning for two adjacent lots that residents said back up to homes.

City staff described a three-lot request to change three agriculturally zoned parcels totaling 10.73 acres to commercial, with a future land-use map change for part of the northern lot to corridor commercial. Staff said the area includes nearby uses such as East Texas Powersports and Garden of Memories Cemetery and noted that the request received six letters of opposition from property owners within the 200-foot notification area. Planning and Zoning recommended approval for only the corner lot at 4944 and denial of the other two lots.

Several nearby residents spoke in opposition to rezoning the two interior lots directly across from single-family homes. Gerald Crump, who said he lives at 4831 Southwood Drive, asked the council to approve only the corner lot and leave the other two as agriculture. “We've lived there 27 years and the only commercial dealings we've ever had was raising grandkids,” Crump said. Rodney Paulette said commercial development would be “15 feet from my garage” if all lots were approved and that would “completely destroy the property value.” Diane Paulette told the council she recently awoke to find “14 semi trailers lined up against my fence” and expressed concern about commercial traffic.

A councilor moved to follow the Planning and Zoning recommendation and approve rezoning only for 4944; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Staff noted that because more than 20% of the notification area submitted signed opposition a supermajority (six of seven) would normally be required to approve all three lots; with six councilors present that would have required unanimous approval to adopt all three. The council adopted the single-lot rezoning as recommended by Planning and Zoning.