Planning commission recommends rezoning 1.82-acre Ellen Avenue tract to RSF-7

The League City Planning & Zoning Commission voted to approve a recommendation to rezone approximately 1.82 acres off Ellen Avenue from public/semi-public to RSF-7 to allow single-family residential development.

Staff planning presenter Caitlin said the tract, purchased from Texas Avenue Baptist Church in February 2024, is currently undeveloped and heavily wooded and that the applicant owns an adjacent lot with a single-family home. Caitlin told the commission that "staff does recommend approval of the rezone request" and that traffic impacts would be negligible. She also said the proposed RSF-7 zoning matches adjacent properties to the south and across Ellen Avenue.

One nearby property owner, Kent Anthony, spoke during the public hearing. Anthony said he and his wife, Poldy Church, live at the end of Ellen Avenue and that they "enjoy sitting and looking at the woods and the birds," adding they had "no objection to this being a residential property." Anthony also said the owners do not have immediate building plans and expect possible construction five to six years out and that their plan is "not to take all of it down, but just enough to put the house probably closer to the center of the property and then leave most of the rest up as a buffer."

No advanced written communications of support or objection were filed, Caitlin said. After the public comment period closed, a commissioner moved to approve the rezone and a second was given. The commission voted in favor; the chair called for "aye" votes, heard no nays and the motion carried. The rezoning recommendation will proceed to the City Council at its July 8 meeting, staff later noted.

The decision before the commission was limited to the zoning map change; specific building plans, tree removal, site layout and timing will be determined later through applicable permitting and site-plan review processes if the landowner pursues development.