Commission approves site plan and variances for private multi-sport facility at Keller Sports Park

The Keller Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 28 approved a site plan with variances for a proposed private, multi-sport facility to be located on city-owned land within the Keller Sports Park. The building will be roughly 84,000 square feet (indoor and outdoor) and include indoor courts for basketball and volleyball, space for futsal and cheer, and three outdoor turf fields. The applicant is a private operator that holds a proposed 50-year ground lease with the city and an incentive agreement approved previously by City Council.

City staff described four variances tied to the applicant’s desire to maximize on-site parking: (1) not providing a landscape island after every 12 parking spaces; (2) allowing a variable-width frontage buffer along Golden Triangle Boulevard in lieu of a uniform 30-foot buffer; (3) a waiver of the UDC requirement that 15% of parking-lot area be landscaped; and (4) permitting an on-site parking shortfall to be addressed via construction of public parking along Soccer Parkway and shared parking with renovated sports-park lots. The site plan proposes 116 regular spaces and 6 accessible spaces on the applicant’s lot and an additional 102 spaces along Soccer Parkway to be constructed as public parking; the applicant also expects to use improved parking within the larger sports park renovation project to meet a 346-space requirement for the facility.

Staff noted portions of the subject property are in the floodplain and that preliminary drainage and utility plans had been submitted and were under review. The applicant described an arrival sequence with drop-off and landscaping at the building’s main entry, a bio-swale / landscaped island intended for stormwater treatment, and operational plans to coordinate schedules with youth-sports partners (for example, Keller Youth Association) to reduce peak concurrent demand. Applicant representatives said routine programming (practices and training) would generally create short-duration parking demand that the shared-parking approach would accommodate; larger tournament events would be handled by the combined parking resources across the park. The applicant also said parking would not be gated and the lot would be available to park visitors when not otherwise in use.

Commissioners asked detailed questions about parking stall dimensions, the status of Soccer Parkway access during renovations, and how lighting and stormwater would be handled. Staff said photometric and final drainage/utility plans would be required at permitting. The commission voted 6–0 to approve the site plan with the four variances; the project will be forwarded to City Council on Feb. 18 for the council’s information and any required approvals under the stadium/lease agreements and park improvements.

Votes at a glance: The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the site plan and four variances by a 6–0 vote; the applicant will return to council for final lease/permit coordination as the design is finalized.