Boerne planning commission delays ratification of zoning tied to Buc-ee’s after hours of public comment

The Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Boerne voted to postpone a decision on a staff request to ratify C‑3 (community commercial) zoning on a 5.155‑acre tract adjoining the Buc‑ee’s Buck East development, after residents and neighborhood groups urged the commission to delay action until traffic, utilities and sign‑permit questions were resolved.

The delay was approved 6‑0 with Commissioner Keller recorded as abstaining. The motion to table was made and seconded on the record; the postponement moves the matter to the commission’s next meeting and gives staff and the applicant time to address outstanding issues.

The item before the commission was a staff recommendation to designate the parcel within the city’s Unified Development Code (UDC) framework as C‑3, a district staff said best matched the retired B‑2 Highway Commercial classification that applied to the site before the 2021 UDC update.

Many residents urged the commission not to treat the request as a mere administrative correction. “Approving this zoning change in isolation is like handing the keys to a car when it hasn’t even been built,” said Amelia Andrews, a Regent Park resident, during public comments. Andrews and other opponents pointed to outstanding issues they said should be settled first: multiple rounds of revisions to a traffic impact analysis, the status of a sewer main bid, the sign permit for a 75‑foot Buc‑ee’s sign, and what residents described as incomplete or missing public records about earlier negotiations and incentives.

Speakers cited the development agreement between the city and the developer — which includes a 20‑year, 50% sales‑tax rebate referenced in public comments — and asked that more of the project’s elements be settled before a zoning decision. Multiple speakers asked for stronger protections for adjacent neighborhoods, including limits on cut‑through traffic and fencing between the project and nearby preservation land.

City staff described the night’s agenda item as a map correction to reflect that a parcel formerly owned by TxDOT retained B‑2 zoning and therefore should be assigned the closest current UDC district (staff recommended C‑3). Director of Planning and Community Development Nathan Crane told the commission that the action under consideration would not affect Site A (the larger Buc‑ee’s pad) or site planning, lighting, signage or design approvals; those matters require separate applications and permit reviews. City attorney Mick McKamey described the change as an administrative correction to align the map with prior actions.

Commissioners and the public debated whether the posting language and acreage had changed between an earlier, postponed agenda and the current meeting. Several commissioners and residents said that discrepancy increased community skepticism and called for more transparency in the process. Multiple speakers also urged the commission to withhold any ratification until the final traffic study and utility plans meet current standards.

The commission’s tabling action does not prevent the city from continuing to review building or infrastructure permits that meet existing requirements, and staff noted that permits that are otherwise complete can be issued while the zoning question is deferred.

The item will return to the commission after staff and the applicant provide updated materials and responses to the outstanding concerns raised tonight.