Council denies planned-development amendment for Maple/Cesar Chavez site after residents cite safety and truck concerns

Lockhart City Council denied, by a 6-0 vote, a planned-development (PDD) amendment that would have revised a 32.84-acre development near Maple Street and Cesar Chavez Parkway to allow a convenience store with truck fueling and up to 15 semi‑truck parking spaces.

Planning Director David Fowler explained the revised PDD would have added a driveway directly from northbound Texas 130 (Cesar Chavez Parkway) and a convenience store site configured to serve passenger vehicles and semi‑trucks, including diesel pumps and four large truck parking stalls. The applicant removed earlier elements such as showers, trucker lounges and paid truck parking following neighborhood meetings, Fowler said, and planning staff and the applicant made some design changes after Planning & Zoning concerns.

Applicant team members presented revised plans at the hearing and to the neighborhood. Project representatives said the convenience-store plan had been scaled to address neighborhood concerns: they removed overnight truck parking and shower/lounge facilities, limited truck parking to 12–15 spaces, proposed security camera monitoring and vegetated screening and said the owner would widen Maple Street to city collector standards before platting.

Despite those changes, dozens of nearby residents and parents urged denial. Speakers cited pedestrian safety, proximity to Lockhart Junior High, air and noise pollution, the risk of increased truck traffic on Lincoln Lane and the potential for crime. Several speakers who hold commercial-driver licenses or public‑safety backgrounds described the difficulty large trucks would have entering from the Maple/Cesar Chavez exit and warned trucks would otherwise use neighborhood streets. A petition circulated to council listed 133 signatories from nearby subdivisions.

The Planning & Zoning Commission had recommended denial (4‑0). Staff also flagged technical issues including the driveway location, the interaction of the truck entrance with a planned hike-and-bike trail and outstanding engineering review for truck turning movements and required Maple Street conveyance improvements before platting. Fowler told council the trail crossing created a conflict point where trucks and pedestrians would intersect.

The applicant’s engineer and traffic consultants showed simulated turning movements and argued northbound Cesar Chavez can provide safe access and that signage and yield markings already in place will manage merging movements. The applicant and ownership team also said they would accept additional screening and other conditions to reduce neighborhood impacts.

After extended public comment and council discussion, councilmember motions led to a vote to deny Ordinance 2025‑14, the PDD amendment; the motion passed 6-0. Council members said they appreciated the applicant’s outreach and the changes made since the initial concept, but that safety and proximity to homes and the junior high made the truck‑oriented aspects unacceptable in this location.

The denial leaves the previously approved PDD and development plan in effect and preserves the site’s current PDD boundaries. The applicant may revise the proposal and return with a new plan, or propose a convenience store without truck fueling and truck parking; staff noted such changes would require new PDD or zoning review and additional technical studies.