Sunnyvale council approves first reading for temporary contractor storage yard at 319 US Highway 80

The Sunnyvale Town Council on Feb. 24 approved the first reading of Ordinance 2025-O5, granting a temporary special-use permit (SUP) for a contractor storage yard at 319 US Highway 80 to support the TxDOT US 80 and I-635 construction project.

The permit is limited to five years and allows Austin Bridge & Road—the applicant—to use roughly 14 acres of a larger tract for temporary office trailers, employee parking and material staging. Staff said the applicant plans about 101 employee parking spaces, a secure storage area for containers and two trailer offices near the front of the site.

Surupa (planning staff) told council the site will be graded with crushed concrete flexible base, watered to control dust and secured with a chain-link perimeter fence and screening mesh. The application proposes two modular office trailers, space for routine vehicular parking and occasional semi deliveries—approximately two to three trucks per week for material deliveries, the applicant said.

“We are proposing night-time office access but not heavy equipment operation at night,” Joel Lasich, representing Austin Bridge & Road, told the council. Lasich said most construction work will occur on the highway corridors and that the compound will primarily serve as a daytime hub; inspectors may come in outside daytime hours for paperwork.

Council members pressed for stronger mitigation measures. Staff explained the SUP departs from some Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) requirements—such as limits on open outside storage and a ban on chain-link as a primary street-facing fence—because the use is temporary and needed for a regional road project. The applicant said chain-link with screening is preferred for security; council members said they might require wood-panel screening or a taller fence along the frontage road and the west side that abuts other property.

The ordinance adopted by council on first reading includes conditions addressing several concerns the council raised: focused, downward-directed lighting to minimize spillover; an 8-foot fence along the frontage road and the west side (subject to staff finalization and engineering); a requirement to coordinate and consider warning signage for vehicles entering or exiting the staging yard; and a provision that the applicant mitigate dust by watering the aggregate base at a frequency sufficient to prevent nuisance dust, with staff authority to require additional measures if necessary.

The council also discussed tree mitigation: the applicant’s tree survey identified removal of approximately 17 protected trees to accommodate staging. Under the town’s tree ordinance, those trees must be mitigated on-site or by payment into the tree reforestation fund. Because the SUP is temporary, staff and the property owner proposed holding mitigation funds in escrow or allowing replanting on-site after the site is restored at the end of the SUP term.

Heather (town attorney) told council the SUP will expire five years after adoption or earlier if the site is no longer needed for the highway project; failure to comply with the SUP conditions could lead to revocation of the SUP through the town’s code-enforcement process.

Mayor Burton Finch moved to approve the SUP on first reading with the added conditions; Dr. Woodrow seconded. The motion passed unanimously, 5-0 (Ms. Daniel and Mr. Clark absent).

Council members said staff will return with revised ordinance language at second reading that embeds the agreed conditions and provides clearer enforcement language and measurable dust-control and lighting specifications.