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Victoria council grants variance for driveway and yard at 3109 Houston Highway after debate
Summary
After debate and a failed initial motion, the Victoria City Council voted to grant a variance allowing a nonconforming driveway and an expanded lay-down yard at 3109 Houston Highway, reversing a unanimous planning commission recommendation to deny the request.
Victoria City Council on Tuesday amended a pending resolution and granted a variance allowing Warrior Supply to keep a long-used driveway and convert a rear lawn to a lay-down/storage yard at 3109 Houston Highway.
The variance request sought relief from two provisions of the city's development code: the minimum driveway clearance in Table 4-1 (Section 21-180) and the commercial landscape-area requirement (Section 21-198). Planning staff and the planning commission recommended denial after finding the company's most recent site work did not match the site plan that had been approved earlier this year.
Planner (staff) explained that the owner had submitted a site plan that showed the grassed back area and no driveway, but inspections found that the lawn had been converted to a lay-down yard and a nonconforming driveway remained in use. Planning staff told council the driveway was not shown on the original 1984 site plan, that the owner had not provided documentation showing when the driveway was established, and that no landscaping changes had been submitted outside the variance request.
Council members debated competing considerations for roughly an hour. Several members cited the site's long history of truck access and the industrial character of the surrounding area in arguing the variance better reflected on-the-ground conditions and would reduce the likelihood of trucks unloading on Houston Highway. Councilwoman Scott and others urged deference to the planning commission's unanimous recommendation and stressed the importance of following the city's Unified Development Ordinance and site-plan process.
Mayor Pro Tem Young (first referenced here as Mayor Pro Tem Young) said he favored granting the variance, citing historical use and practical traffic-flow concerns: "I'm erring on the side of awarding a variance for this property owner," he said. A planning commissioner's advisor on the dais warned that the city's UDO exists to address exactly these kinds of situations before work is done.
Council ultimately voted down a motion to adopt the planning commission's denial and then approved an amended motion to grant the variance. The council also asked the property owner and city staff to work on a remedial plan to address site safety, driveway condition and landscaping to the extent feasible given existing constraints.
The property owner, representing Warrior Supply, told council the driveway had been used for roughly 30 years and said losing it would make normal unloading impractical. He told council workers had put in sidewalks and curbs in other areas required by staff but that the back driveway had always been the practical access for large vehicles.
Council members acknowledged the planning commission's role and the code requirements, and several members urged the owner to coordinate with planning and public works to identify any safety or drainage work that could be required going forward.
Outcome: council amended the pending resolution and granted the variance for the property at 3109 Houston Highway. The motion to deny (the planning commission recommendation) failed; the subsequent amendment to grant the variance passed.
What comes next: staff and the property owner were instructed to coordinate on compliance and mitigation options; the council did not specify additional fines or enforcement actions in the meeting record.
