Red Oak requires special use permits for certain uses in Highway Oriented District

The Red Oak Planning and Zoning Commission voted Dec. 2 to adopt a city-initiated amendment to the Red Oak zoning ordinance that would require special use permits for certain uses in the Highway Oriented District.

According to staff presentation, the amendment (Case ZA24-24) would move a list of uses from 'allowed by right' to 'special use' within the Highway Oriented District so applicants must appear before the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council and submit site, landscape and elevation plans for review. Emma, the planning and zoning manager, explained the rationale: "They'd have to submit the site plan, landscape, plan, and elevation plan for approval," and the change is intended to ensure uses along I-35 are appropriately located and designed.

Staff listed affected uses including barber or beauty shops, churches, banks/savings and loan or credit union facilities, laundry/dry cleaning plants, physician or other health care offices, photo processing/printing shops, and indoor used merchandise stores. Staff said the goal is to permit these uses but review and guide their placement so they do not form an undesirable frontage directly on the freeway service road.

During public comment, an attendee who identified their office location near the I-35 corridor said there are currently six barbershops and hair salons in a short stretch and described the clustering as "a lot" for that frontage; the commenter supported steering some uses away from the immediate freeway edge to encourage retail that draws traffic into the city. The transcript records the commenter’s observation: "In that short area... there are 6 barbershops and hair salons." The commenter also said that an empty church facing I-35 would not draw weekday traffic and that city review could direct more appropriate uses to the frontage.

Commissioners also asked whether other uses — for example, self-service laundromats or car washes — should be included; staff noted which uses are already not permitted and pointed to existing distance requirements for donation boxes and other limited uses. The staff presentation referenced a 90-day period during which a newly arriving legal nonconforming use occupying a vacated building would not need to seek a new permit, and staff said the special use permit requirement would apply to new uses after that period.

A motion to approve the amendment passed by voice vote. The transcript does not record a roll-call vote or individual yes/no votes; the commission recorded the amendment as approved.