Haslet planning commission delays zoning for Freeman Toyota but clears final plat

The Haslet Planning and Zoning Commission continued a public hearing on a planned development zoning request for a proposed Freeman Toyota dealership and unanimously recommended approval of the project's final plat, allowing preliminary earthwork and underground utility work to proceed.

Planning staff said the 38.566-acre site is shown as commercial on the city's master land use plan and that the dealership's requested use is consistent with that plan. Staff described the application as a planned development (PD) because the applicant requests exceptions to standard landscaping requirements.

Phil Baird, an engineer with Baird Hampton Brown representing Freeman Auto Group, said the site offers strong visibility and access and that the company plans a large new Toyota dealership. “This is going to be a very big Toyota dealership,” Baird said, adding the existing Hurst dealership will close when the new site opens. Baird said the project faces site constraints including a roughly 60-foot slope across the property, a 150-foot electric transmission easement running across the western third of the tract, lack of existing water and sewer, and the need to negotiate driveway access with the Texas Department of Transportation. He said the applicant obtained TxDOT driveway permits for three driveways and will construct a right-turn deceleration lane along the frontage.

The PD request seeks modifications to the city's standard landscaping because Freeman Toyota does not want trees or large plantings in vehicle display areas. The landscaping plan submitted instead concentrates hedges and small shrubs near the driveway entrance and uses rock or hardscape in interior islands where vehicles will be displayed. Commissioners raised concerns about the western boundary along Harmon Road, which faces an elementary school and established residential development.

A commissioner said the western boundary should be screened so that passersby on Harmon Road cannot see vehicles, including out-of-service or damaged cars, and recommended a dense, evergreen buffer with ornamental fencing rather than a masonry wall. Baird said the applicant is "amenable to improving and beefing up the landscaping along Harmon Road" and that the team will work with their landscape architect, Dave Baldwin, to revise the plan. The applicant's team also said the site's expansive soils make masonry walls inadvisable, and that ornamental fencing combined with substantial evergreen plantings would be a better solution.

Commissioners also pressed for clearer photometric information and fixture details. The applicant provided a photometric plan showing lumen levels and spill at property lines; staff and the applicant confirmed pole-mounted fixtures at or near property lines will include house-side shields per the plans. The commission asked for photographs or cut sheets of proposed fixtures and clarified that the tallest poles shown on the submitted photometrics are about 22 feet. The applicant agreed to provide exhibit-level details on fixture types and renderings of the revised landscaping for Harmon Road.

After discussion, a motion to continue the PD zoning public hearing to the commission's next meeting passed (vote details not specified in the record). Commissioners said the continuance is to allow the applicant to submit revised landscaping and photometric/fixture exhibits addressing screening along Harmon Road and horizontal shielding of lights.

Separately, with no public hearing required, the commission considered the final plat for Freeman Toyota Haslet Edition (Lots 1 and 2, Block 1). Staff noted the plat splits the property into a roughly 20-acre north lot for the dealership and a south lot reserved for future commercial development. The city engineer had reviewed the plat and provided a recommending letter. Commissioners voted unanimously to recommend city council approve the final plat, which the applicant said is needed so grading and underground utility work can begin. Staff and the applicant noted that building or other work requiring zoning approval cannot proceed until the PD/zoning is adopted.

Next steps: the zoning/PD item will return to the commission with revised landscaping drawings and photometric/fixture exhibits; the final plat recommendation will be forwarded to the Haslet City Council for action.