Live Oak officials propose removing 200-foot notice for zoning text changes, add site-plan review for commercial and multifamily projects

LIVE OAK, Texas — City of Live Oak officials on April 22 reviewed proposed revisions to Chapter 24, Article 12 of the city code that would (1) remove a requirement to notify property owners within 200 feet of a zoning text amendment and (2) add a site-plan review process for new commercial and multifamily developments.

City planning staff presented the two proposals during a special joint public hearing of the City Council and the Planning & Zoning Commission. Planning staff member Mr. Riffon said the first change is largely “house cleaning,” explaining the city’s current ordinance requires notifying property owners within 200 feet for text amendments even though text amendments change the code citywide. “We’re proposing to remove the requirement for property owner notification for any text amendment to the zoning ordinance,” Riffon said, and to rely on newspaper notification for text amendments while retaining property-owner notification for rezoning requests tied to a specific parcel.

The second proposal would create a formal, administrative site-plan review for new commercial and multifamily developments — not for single-family or two-family residential projects. Under the proposed two-step approach, applicants would submit a full site-plan application for internal review of engineering, planning and landscaping issues; after administrative approval (the draft ordinance sets a 30-day administrative review period), applicants could submit building-permit applications focused on building plans because site issues would already be resolved. Riffon said the process is intended to be an efficiency improvement and a “best practice” used by other municipalities.

Resident architect Aaron Dahl, who identified himself as having reviewed the proposal, said he supports the change as drafted. “I’m in support of doing this as a develop developer friendly initiative,” Dahl said, adding he wanted assurance the site-plan review would not become “a never ending subjective design process.” Mayor Pro Tem Tollgren and other council members also voiced support; Tollgren said the flowchart and up-front review would produce cost savings for developers by identifying issues earlier.

Councilmember Smiths raised questions about wording, including confusion over the phrase “text amendment” (meaning amendments to ordinance language, not electronic texting). Smiths also asked whether pending state legislation on electronic notices could require further changes to the city ordinance; Riffon responded that any needed updates would depend on the final language of state law. Planning & Zoning members noted minor packet wording and comma-placement errors and identified one inconsistency tied to a deleted “protest” subsection that should be corrected in the draft ordinance.

No members of the public came forward to speak for or against the proposals during the allotted public-comment period, and the chair closed the joint public hearing at 6:43 p.m. No formal motions or votes were taken at the hearing; the items were presented for discussion and direction.

The proposed changes, as described at the hearing, would: remove the 200-foot property-owner notification requirement for zoning text amendments; use newspaper notice for citywide text changes; require site-plan submission and internal review for new commercial and multifamily developments; and set an administrative review timeline (the draft cites 30 days, while at least one speaker suggested a shorter internal target such as 14 days to improve turnaround). The staff presentation said the site-plan step is intended to resolve engineering, planning and landscaping issues before building-permit review so building permits focus on structural and code compliance matters.

Next steps were not specified at the hearing. The item will return to the council and planning commission for further consideration and drafting corrections before any formal action is taken.