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Prosper council approves La Sima Crossing site plan with traffic-study condition
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Summary
The Town Council approved the La Sima Crossing site plan, a roughly 30,000-square-foot retail development anchored by a roughly 20,000-square-foot Spice Hut grocery, with a condition that a professional traffic impact analysis (TIA) determine opening timing and truck restrictions.
The Prosper Town Council voted unanimously to approve the La Sima Crossing site plan, while requiring a traffic impact analysis before construction proceeds to determine when the development can open.
The site plan, which staff said is part of an existing PD-2 zoning designation, covers a roughly 30,000-square-foot retail facility with about 20,000 square feet planned for a grocery tenant identified as Spice Hut and roughly 10,000 square feet for secondary retail uses. The council approved the plan after the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval with the added condition that a professional TIA be completed before a certificate of occupancy is issued.
The requirement for a TIA grew out of resident concerns and Planning and Zoning deliberations about traffic at the La Sima and U.S. 380 intersections and how the currently incomplete Richland roadway would affect ingress and egress. Planning staff told the council that Richland currently has only two lanes adjacent to the proposed development and that the project would be required to construct additional lanes on the portion of Richland within the development’s frontage.
David Hoover, senior planning staff, said the neighborhood reaction reflected confusion about zoning and traffic. “The primary concern was, people didn't realize that the zoning was already in place,” Hoover told the council. He also described the project’s scale: “It was part of the old PD 2. The use, it's about a 30,000 square foot, little less, of facility. About 20,000 of it is a grocery store.”
Councilmembers pressed staff about several operational details raised by residents, including whether 18-wheelers would be permitted to deliver at the site and whether parking counts were adequate. Staff said the TIA could recommend limits on heavy-truck access and that the store size (under 20,000 square feet) made large-tractor-trailer deliveries less likely. On parking, staff said the plan lists 119 spaces required and 120 provided under the applicable ratios.
Councilmembers also asked whether outdoor covered seating shown on the plan could be removed; staff said the outdoor area is a permitted use under the existing PD zoning and could not be eliminated at the site-plan stage. The planning commission’s 3–1 recommendation included the condition that the TIA be completed prior to opening so the timing of any off-site road construction and required internal road improvements could be tied to a certificate of occupancy.
Councilmember discussion acknowledged sympathy with residents’ traffic concerns, but several members said the site plan, combined with the TIA requirement and possible delivery restrictions, struck an appropriate balance between neighborhood impacts and development. A council member moved to approve item 8 with the Planning & Zoning recommendations; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
The council did not vote on any zoning changes for the site during the meeting; staff emphasized the parcel is already zoned for the uses proposed and the council’s action approved the site plan with the traffic-study condition.
