Commission grants variance on Ammon Road left‑turn lane for church; members split 4‑3

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved a variance, 4‑3, from a city engineering requirement that would otherwise have required installation of a left‑turn lane on Ammon Road for a proposed church development in the county‑maintained corridor.

The project applicant, Bridal Fellowship Church, is proposing a roughly 54,000‑square‑foot sanctuary on an 18‑acre parcel east of Boerne that remains in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). City code requires a left‑turn lane at collectors or arterials when left‑turn movements reach five or more vehicles in the peak hour; the applicant’s traffic impact analysis calculated 13 left‑turn vehicles in the Sunday peak hour. After debate, commissioners approved the variance while attaching a requirement that the public‑infrastructure set include traffic‑calming or advanced‑warning measures (to be reviewed in…