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Argyle planners recommend elementary school site plan with two variances; commission conditions include extra trees
Summary
Planning commissioners recommended approval of Argyle ISD's elementary-school site plan and granted variances for tree caliper sizes and parking placement, adding a condition that the district plant additional trees near playgrounds.
The Argyle Planning and Zoning Commission on April 2 recommended approval of a site plan for Argyle Independent School District's proposed elementary school on the same campus as the middle school, subject to two variances and an added condition to increase on‑site tree planting near playground areas.
Harrison, town planning staff, said the elementary school site plan follows a previously approved plan for the campus and that the middle school is already under construction. AISD proposed a two‑story elementary school of about 104,685 square feet with 61 classrooms and a maximum of 850 students, aiming for a fall 2027 opening. The project is part of a larger campus plan; most mitigation, landscaping and traffic improvements were evaluated in prior approvals for the middle school.
AISD sought two variances identical to those granted with the middle school: to allow smaller caliper replacement trees (three‑inch caliper understory and four‑inch caliper canopy trees rather than the town's standard) and to allow more than 10% of required parking to be placed in front of the building. Staff said the layout meets other standards, including off‑street parking counts and interior landscaping, and that queuing length for school arrival and dismissal had been accounted for in the project's traffic‑impact analysis.
Commission discussion focused on tree size and spacing. Commissioners and the school representative discussed the expense and survivability tradeoffs between larger, ball‑and‑burlap six‑inch trees and smaller, containerized three‑inch specimens. Rob Morris of RLK Engineering, representing AISD, told the commission that larger field‑grown trees are significantly more costly and that three‑inch stock tends to establish quickly after transplanting; commissioners suggested adding trees in non‑conflicting locations such as around playgrounds for additional canopy and shade.
The commission voted to recommend approval to town council with the two requested variances and an additional condition added at the meeting: plant additional trees near playground areas (the commission specified several smaller-caliper trees to be added to playground perimeters). The staff packet notes that most larger landscape buffers for the campus were handled in the middle school approvals and remain in place.
Votes at a glance: Planning and Zoning Commission — motion to recommend approval of the AISD elementary school site plan with the two variances and the added playground tree requirement; outcome: recommended to town council, vote passed (4-2).
Next steps: The recommendation will move to town council for final action. The school district will coordinate final planting sizes and locations with town staff as part of permit issuance and landscape plan approval.
