Denton board keeps two West 3rd Street parcels at R-15 after residents raise flooding concerns

The Denton Town Board voted to retain two parcels on West 3rd Street at their current R-15 zoning after residents and board members raised concerns about stormwater and an on-site sewer easement.

Staff introduced the rezoning request, saying the parcels are currently zoned R-15 and the applicant sought rezoning to R-8; the public hearing had been advertised and adjacent property owners notified. Staff noted a sewer easement that follows the creek line on both parcels and told the board Public Works had reviewed the site and flagged that easement as a constraint.

“Public Works has reviewed, and the only concern I have is there is a sewer easement on both parcels that run along the creek line,” the staff member told the board.

Wayne Shuler, the property owner and applicant, said he sought rezoning to allow more development options and described plans that could include single-family homes and duplexes similar to properties he has built elsewhere. “We'd like to have this property, rezoned … just to give us the, you know, the maximum availability,” Shuler said when introducing the proposal.

Several residents voiced concerns about drainage, road capacity and buffers. Mike Williams, who said he lives at 194 West 3rd Street, asked for a site plan and said the nearby road “can't handle a whole lot,” and that he wants to know how many houses will be built.

Neighbor Sharon Finnick, of 316 West 2nd Street, described repeated flooding downstream and said she had spent $10,000 to clear debris from a local creek. “My concern being, if this is developed, I'm just afraid of what might happen down here,” Finnick said, noting the creek serves as a main drainage route for the area.

A board member pressed that the town needs a stormwater study before changing density. “I just cannot, in good faith, approve shifting” the zoning without more information, the board member said.

Board members moved to close the public hearing and then voted to keep the parcels zoned R-15 rather than rezoning them to R-8. Staff explained that a site plan and subdivision review would follow any rezoning request, and that disturbance over one acre would require a state-approved erosion-control plan.

The board’s decision preserves the current lot-size minimums tied to R-15 zoning and delays any change in density until additional stormwater analysis and site-level plans are available. The public hearing record shows the town received resident comments and staff noted both the easement constraint and state erosion-control requirements for larger disturbances.

The board moved on to a second rezoning matter after the vote.