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Fulshear board approves variance for junior-high site to avoid costly parking-island requirement
Summary
The Fulshear Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to grant a variance for a proposed junior-high site at 32550 Tiger Run, allowing the district to avoid installing 21 required parking-lot islands the applicant said would cost roughly $225,000 and add maintenance and irrigation burdens.
The Fulshear Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously on Nov. 20 to grant a variance for a proposed junior-high site at 32550 Tiger Run, permitting an alternate approach to the ordinance’s parking-lot-island requirement.
Planning staff recommended approval and the board relied on the applicant’s presentation about financial and operational burdens. The applicant’s representative told the board the site would otherwise need 21 parking-lot islands at roughly $10,700 per island — about $225,000 in one-time cost — plus an estimated 49,000 gallons of irrigation water annually and roughly 34 hours of yearly maintenance. “Those parking lot islands ... puts the district at a financial burden of accommodating $225,000 to procure and install these islands,” the presenter said.
Rodrigo Rodriguez of the city planning department recommended the variance, saying the district’s alternative landscaping exceeded the ordinance’s minimums and met the spirit of the rule in different ways. “Staff does recommend approval of this variance,” Rodriguez said.
Board members discussed whether the application met the statutory standard for financial hardship under section 2.11 of the Texas Local Government Code but noted the district’s bond financing (2022 bond) had not explicitly funded the extra island costs and that the proposed tree and landscape plan provided mitigation. The presenter said the site already includes extensive plantings (about 153 trees) and that concentrating landscaping in certain areas reduced separate irrigation branches and therefore ongoing irrigation complexity.
With no public speakers requesting to oppose the request, a board member moved to approve the variance and Ms. Peters seconded. The board voted unanimously to approve the variance, meeting the supermajority threshold required for relief.
The decision allows the district to proceed with the school site without installing the ordinance’s parking-island layout; it does not change other permits or approvals that may be required during final site plan review.
