Planning commission approves Abbey Lakes Section 1 preliminary plat with technical conditions

The Sugar Land Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 14 approved the Abbey Lakes Section 1 preliminary plat subject to two technical conditions: change the asterisk used in the box exhibit to a conventional multiplication sign ("x") and correct the square footage listed for Reserve H in the reserve table.

Jessica Rodriguez, presenting the item for staff, said the preliminary plat is a check of lot and street layouts and that box exhibits demonstrate minimum lot widths at the front building line. Staff explained the commission may approve, approve with conditions or disapprove a preliminary plat; any conditional approvals must cite applicable code requirements. The motion that passed included citations to the Development Application Handbook graphic requirements for preliminary plats and multiple sections of the development code.

Staff described Abbey Lakes Section 1 as roughly 30 acres within city limits, south of the future John Sharp roadway with a secondary access point from Mornington Drive in the county—s extraterritorial jurisdiction. Staff said the section contains 134 single-family lots, six blocks and 13 reserves. Presenters noted that the larger Abbey Lakes development was described in the packet as having 6,637 residential lots overall, with 371 of those sized 50-by-100 and 266 sized 60-by-110.

Commissioners raised several technical questions: one commissioner asked whether Mornington Drive was the same existing roadway that provides the secondary access and whether a pipeline easement would affect required access information. Staff said the pipeline easement lies outside the plat boundary and Mornington Drive is an existing improvement; because the easement and portion of Mornington Drive are outside the plat boundary, the plat does not require the access easement to be shown on the preliminary plat. On floodplain notation, staff said base flood elevations (BFEs) are not required on a preliminary plat and will appear on the final plat with a master note.

Commissioner Brown asked for a specific correction to Reserve H—s figure; the chair—s motion made that correction a condition of approval. The motion to approve Abbey Lakes Section 1, with the two conditions described, carried unanimously among members present. The second was recorded in the meeting as Commissioner Dawood.

The commission scheduled no additional action on the item at the meeting; the next step is submission of a final plat that will include final signatures, proposed easements and required floodplain master notes.