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Planning commission backs UDC text changes to encourage masonry, update landscaping and tighten billboard rules
Summary
The Northlake Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of Unified Development Code text amendments that add incentives for masonry and articulation, formalize alternative landscape compliance and a tree fee option, and narrow billboard placement rules to match TxDOT requirements; commissioners approved the recommendation unanimously and it is scheduled for Town Council consideration Dec. 11.
The Northlake Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday recommended approval of text amendments to several sections of the town's Unified Development Code aimed at encouraging higher-quality exterior design while avoiding a state-preempted material mandate.
Town staff presented changes to Section 9.5 (exterior construction and design standards), Section 9.1 (landscaping and tree protection) and Section 11.8 (signs) that insert masonry and other secondary materials into an incentive-based point system for design review, add building articulation criteria, and formalize the commission's role in recommending alternative landscape compliance. Staff said the amendments do not require masonry or particular materials because state law preempts local regulation of building materials; instead, these elements will provide options to earn required design points.
"They are not [mandated]," staff said when commissioners asked whether the new material provisions would be required. The changes also add an option to pay a fee in lieu of planting required trees and update wording so alternative compliance recommendations made by Planning & Zoning will go to Town Council for approval.
On signs, staff said the draft tightens billboard-placement language to conform with TxDOT requirements and to close a loophole that had allowed some billboard companies to identify locations that could meet the earlier standard. The changes limit where a billboard may be treated as within the town's sign ordinance to places where a limited-access highway crosses the town limits, and they revise distance requirements from other signs so existing conforming signs remain legal while reducing the risk of additional proliferation.
Commissioners noted a few typographical and phrasing edits (for example, a misspelling and a masonry definition item) before voting. Commissioner (speaker 4) moved to approve the recommendation with the text corrections; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously.
The commission will forward the recommended amendments to Town Council; staff said the item is scheduled for the council meeting on Dec. 11.
