Lago Vista planning commission sends zoning amendment back to staff after wording and zone-coverage concerns

The Lago Vista Planning and Zoning Commission opened a public hearing on March 12 on a proposed ordinance to add an "indoor inventory storage" use to the city's zoning code and voted to send the draft back to staff for redrafting.

Planning staff said the change responds to an identified gap in the city's Table B use table: retail is customer-facing and existing storage language was ambiguous as to indoor versus outdoor uses. "There was an identified gap within our use table for this indoor inventory storage," Planning staff Jordan Stromer told the commission.

Why it mattered: City Council had earlier recommended allowing the use in lower-intensity commercial zones but commissioners raised questions about whether the ordinance text as written matched that direction. "It seemed like what they were wanting to do was appropriate use of the property and was in fact less disruptive to the neighborhood than other businesses which are allowed under C1," Council liaison Mr. Prince said, describing the council's reasoning for a narrowly tailored new use.

Some commissioners argued the draft ordinance contained inconsistent references to the use table and broader language that could be interpreted to allow the new use across "all commercial zoning districts." Commissioner Jean Harris questioned whether the city should instead simply mark the existing "warehouse" use in Table B to include the intended zones, saying "a warehouse, according to Merriam Webster's, is a structure or room for the storage of merchandise or commodities." Planning staff cautioned that "warehouse" can allow outdoor storage and heavier truck traffic and may be broader than the strictly indoor, low-intensity use council sought.

After debate and a failed motion to amend the ordinance on the floor (the amendment received no second), Chair Linda Aird moved that staff redraft the ordinance to fix duplicate section references, remove or clarify Exhibit A references, and ensure the text matches council direction limiting the use to C1, C2 and C3. "My motion is that this… the ordinance be redrafted and brought to us at our next meeting for consideration," Aird said. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

What happens next: Staff will prepare a revised ordinance that embeds the new use definition and clearly identifies the zoning districts to which it will apply; the item will return to Planning and Zoning for review before any action by the City Council. The commission did not adopt any zoning change at the March 12 meeting.