Council approves 85-foot commercial antenna and PD amendment near Namus School Road

The Garland City Council on July 22 approved a specific-use provision (SUP), a planned-development amendment and a concept plan allowing an 85-foot commercial antenna on a 0.22-acre parcel at 4413 Namus School Road. The approval included a deviation reducing the Garland Development Code’s (GDC) distance requirement from three times a tower’s height (255 feet for an 85-foot structure) to roughly 100 feet from the nearest residential district boundary for this site.

Planning staff reported the site is largely surrounded by planned-development zoning dating to 1987, with a northeast boundary zoned agricultural — which the GDC treats as residential for the distance rule — but noted much of the adjacent land is floodplain and unlikely to be developed for housing. The concept plan calls for a 16-foot landscape buffer, an 8-foot masonry wall surrounding the equipment yard (two feet higher than the code minimum) and driveway access from Grama Road.

Staff said the GDC amendment earlier in the year now requires an SUP for all new commercial antennas; the PD amendment is necessary because the proposed tower would fall inside the code’s 255-foot distance in the agricultural/zoned boundary area. Plan commission recommended approval for a 50-year SUP so that the approval duration would align with the applicant’s lease term for the site.

Doug Henderson of Crafton Communications, the applicant’s representative, thanked planning and engineering staff for working to avoid the floodway and noted Communications Towers Group holds a 50‑year lease for the property. “We concur with their findings, and certainly we appreciate the unanimous recommendation of the plan commission,” Henderson said.

The council voted unanimously to approve the PD amendment, SUP and concept plan. Councilmember Bass moved to approve; Councilmember Moore seconded. The approval includes the 8-foot masonry wall, required landscape buffer and the SUP term aligned with the applicant’s 50-year lease. City counsel reminded the council that federal law preempts local consideration of health effects when reviewing wireless siting applications; council members limited discussion to land‑use and engineering matters.

The developer and city staff will proceed with permit and lease-related steps; the site is expected to remain largely undeveloped by neighboring parcels because of floodplain constraints.