Socorro Planning and Zoning approves rezonings, variances and new plats in Dec. 2 meeting

The City of Socorro Planning and Zoning Commission on Dec. 2 approved a series of land-use actions including rezonings, variances, conditional-use permits and preliminary and final plats that clear the way for new medium-density residential development and commercial subdivisions.

Highlights from the meeting’s votes include: approval of the Baumann rezoning and associated variances for reduced right-of-way and smaller lot sizes; rezoning approvals to legalize existing duplexes and multiunit buildings at 10752 Melwood Road, 400 Mosher Way and 366 Tanya Drive (the Tanya Drive request included a variance to allow an existing quadruplex); approval of a conditional-use permit for a mechanic shop at 1110 Vista Road; final-plat approval for Horizon Park Unit 4 and Cottonwood Cove Unit 2; and preliminary-plat approvals for Flor Del Bosque and the El Paso Lower Valley Commerce Center.

Staff recommended approval on most items and presented technical details such as parcel legal descriptions, lot sizes and mapping. For example, the Baumann request covers approximately 219.58 acres and seeks rezoning from A-1 agricultural and C-2 general commercial to R-2 and C-2, along with variances to allow a 54-foot minimum right-of-way (instead of 60 feet) and some lot sizes between 5,000 and 5,999 square feet. Planning staff recommended approval of the Baumann rezoning and variances.

Several motions were recorded as carried with vocal "Aye" votes; the commission opened public hearings as required and closed them before acting on the items. One recorded abstention occurred during the Horizon Park Unit 4 final-plat motion. Where public comment was received, residents most commonly raised traffic and parking concerns — issues that commissioners said would be addressed through ongoing traffic analysis and upcoming updates to the city’s development code.

The meeting also included a planning-department update: the Texas Transportation Commission approved $2.8113 million for the Rio Vista Complete Streets planning project and a $50,000 award from the Texas Preservation Trust Fund will support an updated historic resources survey. Staff said a Unified Development Code rewrite is underway and expected to return in draft form for feedback in January.

What happens next: individual approvals allow applicants to pursue permits or engineering steps required by the city; several approvals included conditions that outstanding engineering comments be addressed before final acceptance.