Taylor planning commission denies driveway-spacing variance for 318 Burkett Street

The Taylor Planning and Zoning Commission voted to deny a request for three driveway-spacing variances for property at 318 Burkett Street, the commission announced after a public hearing on the application PZ20242385.

City planner Preston Gatto told the commission that staff recommended denial because the applicant had not demonstrated the kind of regulatory burden required under state law and local standards. “Overall, staff is gonna recommend a denial for all 3 of these,” Gatto said during the hearing.

The variances sought would reduce standard driveway spacing set out in the city engineering manual and the Land Development Code. Under the standards discussed at the hearing, commercial driveways normally must be placed at least 75 feet from an intersection and roughly 100 feet from another commercial driveway; the applicant proposed driveways substantially closer (Gatto said one measure was about 51 feet to the intersection and other driveway gaps of roughly 50 feet and about 67 feet in one drawing). Staff and several commissioners raised concerns about…