Flower Mound council adopts package of Land Development Regulation changes

The Flower Mound Town Council unanimously approved an ordinance on March 3 adopting multiple amendments to the town's Land Development Regulations, revising landscaping, subdivision and zoning standards and updating permit fee methodology.

The changes allow a new street-buffer landscaping exception that can relocate required trees on-site when physical constraints such as drainage easements prevent planting within the required buffer; add a public hearing step for requests to modify compatibility buffers or setbacks; codify required vehicle turn-around (rejection) areas for gated subdivisions; clarify the lot-depth-to-width (flag-lot) exception; align campus commercial and campus industrial front-setback language with other nonresidential districts; cap parking-lot lighting at 3,000 kelvins; and update public-infrastructure inspection fee calculation procedures and a $300 nonrefundable DEV-permit deposit.

Town staff said the buffer exception responds to development situations where drainage easements or retention ponds make strict placement in the buffer impractical. "It would just allow for a waiver or modification basically to where those trees get planted," a staff presenter explained during the public hearing. Officials said the number of required trees (generally one per 30 linear feet of frontage under the town's tree ordinance) would still be met elsewhere on the site.

The compatibility-buffer change adds written notice that a public hearing will accompany a request to modify the buffer or setback, a step staff said was missing under the current code. Council members noted that the public-hearing requirement provides a clearer forum for adjacent homeowners to raise concerns than relying solely on general public-comment time.

On subdivisions, the amendment clarifies the town's intent to discourage newly created flag lots while explaining exceptions and showing a visual example. The code update also makes explicit language requiring a gated subdivision's turnaround area to be platted and sized to accommodate a full-size box truck so vehicles will not need to back into the public street.

The fee changes reflect a 2023 state legislative limit on basing inspection fees on a project's infrastructure cost. Under the adopted approach, an outside engineering consultant will prepare an estimated inspection scope and fee for each project; that estimate will be used to set the inspection fee rather than applying the town's prior percentage-based method. The council also approved a $300 nonrefundable deposit to be applied toward the permit's total costs to discourage incomplete submissions.

Council members voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance as presented. No council member requested a roll-call change or a recorded no vote.

The amendments will take effect according to the town's ordinance schedule; staff said they would publish the revised code text and update application checklists to reflect the new exception process and the lighting and fee clarifications.