Commission approves Liberty Compass zoning and site plan after debate on lot size, trees and Peytonville access

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-0 Wednesday to approve a zoning change, development plan and site plan for Liberty Compass, a mixed residential and commercial project at 1963 West Southlake Boulevard and 200 South Peytonville Avenue, subject to the staff report dated April 17, 2025, and development site plan review summary no. 3 dated April 17, 2025.

Commission Chairman Dan Kubiak opened the public hearing. City planning staff described the property as currently zoned SP-1 detailed site plan district and O-1 office district, and noted the applicant requests RPUD (residential planned unit development) for the residential portion and SP-1 for the commercial portion. Staff summarized site recommendations in the future land use plan, including providing cross access between Player Circle and Peytonville and sensitivity to adjacent residential areas (particularly Southlake Woods) regarding noise, traffic, building height, lighting and views.

Curtis Young with the Sage Group represented the applicant and reviewed the project history. Young told the commission the plan has been revised several times after prior council and commission reviews: an initial 30-lot plan was trimmed to 25, then 23/22 lots in response to council feedback, and the applicant is now offering 14 residential lots with an average lot size above a half acre (approximately 21,864 square feet) and a gross density of 1.3 dwelling units per acre. The residential component will include a detention pond and roughly 19% open space, Young said. The commercial component proposes five buildings — four offices and one C-1 building for which the applicant requested drive-through use on Lot 5.

A resident, Hillary Raveler of 602 Stoneberry Drive (Southlake Woods), spoke in opposition and raised multiple concerns: she asked why the development had not gone through the SPAN neighborhood process (staff said SPAN is encouraged but not required), questioned the choice of RPUD zoning, and cited tree preservation figures from the applicant submittal. Raveler said the existing tree canopy on the commercial site is 6.03% and 19.93% on the residential site; she said the proposed preserved canopy was 4.98% and 38.28% respectively and urged the commission to consider the Southlake tree preservation ordinance and the safety risks of a drive-through near the nearby high school. She also opposed any entrance on Peytonville.

Commission discussion focused on three topics: lot size and consistency with adjacent SF-20 lots (commissioners and the applicant said the current 14-lot plan matches adjacent lot sizes), traffic and access to Peytonville (commissioners discussed using signalized routes versus neighborhood cut-throughs, noted school-peak safety concerns, and asked for data comparisons between commercial traffic and residential traffic), and tree preservation (staff explained that RPUD and SP-1 districts invoke different tree-preservation considerations and that applicants must justify that proposed preservation represents the maximum reasonable preservation given site constraints). The applicant said much of the site formerly operated as a tree nursery and that many higher-quality trees were removed when the nursery closed; the applicant said remaining interior trees are largely willows and lower-quality species and that the project will preserve perimeter trees where feasible and add street trees and landscape plantings as part of lot-level architectural controls.

Several commissioners encouraged the applicant to provide more detail on the landscape plan (species, caliper, and locations) and to coordinate directly with adjacent neighbors on fence repair and drainage issues along the southern boundary; the applicant said it will repair or replace a failing fence at the eastern end of the southern boundary and ensure the detention pond addresses erosion. Commissioners generally said they preferred a data-driven traffic comparison before imposing access restrictions; no motion language closing the Peytonville access at particular times was included in the approval. A commissioner moved to approve ZA25-0018 subject to the staff report and development site plan review summary no. 3; the motion passed 6-0.

Staff said if the commission’s approval is forwarded to City Council, the first reading is tentatively scheduled for May 6 and residents should contact staff for additional information.