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City council approves amendment to Royal Holiday Hills master plan to enable corner retail and restructure parking
Summary
Holiday City Council on July 7 approved a text amendment to the Royal Holiday Hills site development master plan that clarifies land-use diagrams, allows retail pads on Block A, condenses a previously planned three-block parking structure to two blocks, and adds a monument sign location.
Holiday’s City Council voted unanimously on July 7 to approve a text amendment to the Regional Mixed Use Zone site development master plan (SDMP 2007) for the Royal Holiday Hills site, a change that staff said clarifies earlier diagrams and permits retail pads in key corner locations while keeping overall entitlements and parking counts intact.
John, a member of planning staff, told the council the amendment removes a conceptual image that could be misread as constraining permitted uses and instead relies on the SDMP’s land-use table to determine allowable uses. “That image goes away,” John said, explaining the change is intended to prevent confusion and to reflect that Block A — previously shown as surface parking in older diagrams — is entitled to open uses that include retail. He emphasized the amendment is largely clarifying and not an increase in entitlement.
Why it matters: The change lets developers locate retail pads at prominent corners of the Royal Holiday Hills site (Murray Holiday Road and Highland Drive) without changing the overall amount of development allowed, council members said. Planning staff described a reconfiguration of structured parking so that required stalls are still provided — relocated into decks spanning two blocks rather than the originally depicted three-block span — enabling more active frontage at site entrances.
The planning commission reviewed the application and recommended approval by a 4–0 vote; staff likewise recommended approval. At the council meeting, a motion to approve Resolution 2025-15 passed with an audible unanimous yes (Durham, Fotheringham, Quinn, Gray and the chair). City staff and the developer will follow up with required site-plan and parking analyses at the planning-commission level as projects are proposed.
Holiday Hills development director Kathy Olson raised a separate, related concern during the meeting about a different agenda item (a partial vacation of Arbor Lane): she asked that landscaped green strips that Holiday Hills currently maintains remain subject to a maintenance agreement or similar assurance if ownership changes. Council and staff agreed to continue negotiations on maintenance terms as the subdivision and vacation move toward plat recordation.
What’s next: The SDMP amendment is approved; implementing projects will still require site-plan review and parking compliance at the planning-commission level. The council moved into a work session after the meeting to discuss several follow-up items.
Votes and actions taken: Council approved Resolution 2025-15 (SDMP amendment) by recorded affirmative votes and approved associated planning follow-up. No amendments to the resolution were recorded at the meeting.
