Staff backs zoning adjustment and parking variance for expansion at 2525 W. Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway

Planning staff told the commission on May 5 that they recommend approval of Zoning Case 2025-55 ZC to alter an SP-1/RAB site plan at 2525 W. Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway so a restaurant can expand and add seats.

Gina Costanza Grant of the planning department said the request keeps the property in the same zoning category but adjusts the site plan because the expansion increases seating and thus required parking. Staff said one public comment form was in support and none were in opposition.

Staff explained the expansion would add about 492 square feet and increase total seating to about 303 seats. The additional seating created a need for roughly 22 additional parking spaces under code; the applicant's revised striping and a mix of compact stalls would provide 14 new counted spaces on the site, yielding a variance request of roughly eight spaces. Staff said the applicant is also negotiating a parking agreement with an adjacent retail center to the east that currently has excess spaces.

Commissioners asked whether the compact parking configuration and the proposed parking agreement would create future burdens for the adjacent property; staff said the applicant is attempting to structure an agreement so it would not obligate the neighboring uses to seek future variances but noted that if future changes occurred on the adjacent site, those would be evaluated at the time.

Staff noted a minor discrepancy in the paperwork about whether the variance needed is seven or eight spaces and recommended that the commission clear that detail by moving a recommendation that would cover either result. No formal vote was recorded at the work session; the item will proceed to a formal public hearing where the parking count and any parking-agreement documentation will be expected.