The City of Lake Jackson Planning Commission approved final and administrative site-plan actions on multiple properties during its January meeting, including site and landscape plans for Hope Fellowship Church at 200 Lake Road; New Hope Church at 333 FM 2004; Elite Crossing Commercial Development at 106 Center Way; and the Lake Jackson Animal Control Facility at 131 Cannon Lane.

Commissioners voted to approve the Hope Fellowship Church site-plan amendment and a separate landscape-plan amendment after the applicant described changes to drainage, a new outfall to the Glasgow Drainage District canal and a sidewalk extension around existing trees. The applicant said the church will seek a city permit and further sign-off from the drainage district before construction. An applicant representative told the commission that sprinkler systems had been repaired and that shrubs and irrigation work are complete to meet code requirements.

The commission took administrative action on a preliminary site plan for New Hope Church at 333 FM 2004. Applicant Jason Deedy described the submission as an initial site plan and said the church will return to the commission for final review. Deedy said the project removes a pool to replace it with parking and that, excluding some improperly counted spaces off-site, the property will exceed the city’s parking requirement. Commissioners approved the administrative site plan and later approved the landscape plan with a recorded caveat: staff may require additional trees adjacent to the FM 2004 utility easement to address screening near overhead utility lines.

The Elite Crossing Commercial Development final site plan and final landscape plan were both approved. Planner testimony and the applicant’s presentation described modest revisions from an earlier plan including adding 30 feet to one building face, reconfiguring some parking to increase landscaping around preserved trees, relocating a grease trap away from a drive-through and consolidating dumpster access. The plan provides 16.2% landscape area and preserves 58 caliper inches of trees, according to the applicant’s calculations presented to the commission.

The commission also approved the final site plan and landscape plan for the Lake Jackson Animal Control Facility at 131 Cannon Lane. Staff said the plan is unchanged from the prior submission, that most underground piping was removed during a cost-reduction step and that a detention pond and berming remain part of the drainage solution for the larger city-owned site.

Votes at a glance
- Hope Fellowship Church, 200 Lake Road — Final site-plan amendment: approved (motion carried). Landscape plan amendment: approved (motion carried).
- New Hope Church, 333 FM 2004 — Administrative (preliminary) site-plan review: approved (motion carried). Landscape plan: approved with caveat of a possible additional tree strip adjacent to the FM 2004 aerial/utility easement (motion carried).
- Elite Crossing Commercial Development, 106 Center Way — Final site-plan approval: approved (motion carried). Final landscape plan: approved (motion carried). Applicant materials presented showing parking count of 87 (requirement 75) and 16.2% landscape area; preservation of several mature trees was emphasized.
- Lake Jackson Animal Control Facility, 131 Cannon Lane — Final site-plan and landscape-plan approval: approved (motion carried). Staff reported the design relies on surface flow and an above-ground detention configuration with a future pond.

Why it matters
Approvals clear the way for construction and changes that will alter parking layouts, drainage patterns and landscaping across several parcels in Lake Jackson. The decisions also record staff-directed conditions — notably the caveat tied to New Hope Church’s landscape plan — that require applicants or future property owners to meet additional screening or utility-related conditions before permits or construction may proceed.

Commissioners and staff repeatedly framed approvals as contingent on technical permit reviews: drainage details may require city permits and sign-off by partnering districts, and some items (for example, sidewalk connections between retail and hotel parcels in the Elite Crossing area) will require separate agreements between property owners.

Additional details and context
- Drainage: The applicant for Hope Fellowship explained the existing outlet will be on the parcel proposed for sale, and the plan includes a new ditch system and outfall to a Glasgow Drainage District canal subject to future permitting and district sign-off.
- Parking: For New Hope Church, the applicant said parking removed from one area (pool replaced with parking) still leaves the site with more spaces than the code minimum after accounting for some spaces located off the immediate parcel.
- Tree preservation: For Elite Crossing, the applicant said the current design preserves 58 caliper inches of trees and added yard drains around preserved trees to avoid adding fill that would harm root zones.
- Detention and grading: For the animal-control site, staff said much of the underground piping was removed as part of cost-cutting; the design uses berming and above-ground drainage that outlets to a future detention pond.

The meeting record shows unanimous or near-unanimous “aye” votes for the motions as read on the floor; individual vote tallies by commissioner were not provided in the transcript. Where approvals are contingent on further permitting or partner-agency sign-off, staff indicated they will notify the commission if subsequent changes affect the approved site or landscape plans.

Speakers quoted or paraphrased in this article are included in the article’s speaker list. The commission scheduled its next meeting for Tuesday, February 4, 2025.