Council debates rezoning 702 East Murphy from neighborhood commercial to industrial

The Alpine City Council opened discussion on Ordinance 2025-06-01, an application to rezone the property at 702 East Murphy from C-1 Neighborhood Commercial to M-1 Industrial.

City staff told council that the planning and zoning commission had discussed the application for more than an hour and ultimately recommended approval. “Planning and zoning discussed this last night… they approved it,” the city manager said.

Council Member Stevens questioned why the parcel should go to M-1 instead of C-2 and cited nearby residential properties. “My concern then is the residential properties that are around there. You're gonna put an M-1 right in the middle,” Stevens said. Jessica Eiseley, the city building official, explained that an adjacent railroad-property already zoned M-1 makes the proposed industrial zoning contiguous, which avoids classifying the request as impermissible spot zoning.

Eiseley also told council the applicants had originally been advised to seek C-1 in 2017 and now seek a different zone after changes to what M-1 permits. “The applicants approached the city in 02/2017 and were advised to zone C-1… The city approved it. That was bad advice,” she said, describing why the applicants were returning for rezoning.

Council discussion weighed protecting nearby residential areas against correcting earlier zoning advice and ensuring the city's updated M-1 standards exclude certain high-risk industrial uses. Council Member Rucas said he supported rezoning to M-1 but would like an amendment to the zoning ordinance in future to clarify permitted uses.

No final council vote on the ordinance was recorded in the meeting minutes; the planning and zoning commission recommendation and council questions will be part of the public record as council considers a final ordinance.