At the Jan. 6 work session, Jason Gillis, a planner in the department, presented Zoning Case 2024-428-CC for property at 1500 North Loop 12. The applicant, Briggs Equipment, seeks rezoning and a generalized site plan to permit equipment sales and rental as a principal use (and requested variances for setback and screening related to a recent Loop 12 right-of-way acquisition).

Staff recommended approval. Gillis told commissioners the two-and-a-half-acre site currently houses an auto-repair business; the rezoning would allow Briggs Equipment to operate equipment sales and rental similar to operations on adjacent property to the south. The Loop 12 right-of-way acquisition reduced the site’s setbacks: where a 30-foot setback previously applied, the building currently sits about two feet from the property line. The variance request would legalize the existing condition for the current structure; staff clarified that any future rebuilding would need to meet the 25-foot setback standard applicable under Commercial Outdoor 2 zoning.

Staff also described a requested variance to allow an up-to-eight-foot screening fence in the front setback where a maximum of four feet is otherwise permitted; traffic staff asked only that any changes adhere to the traffic manual. No public comments in support or opposition were on file, staff said.

Commissioners asked whether the variance would apply only to the existing building or would allow future buildings to be built to the current two-foot setback; staff confirmed the variance would be limited to the existing structure and that rebuilds would have to meet current code (25-foot setback). No formal vote was taken at the work session; staff’s recommendation will be forwarded to the public hearing process.