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Staff urges targeted zoning-map study, says many PUDs and parcels merit review
Summary
City planning staff presented a 2025 internal GIS analysis and recommended city-initiated rezonings focused on underused PUDs and "red parcels" where county land-use codes and city zoning may not align. Staff proposed bringing a packet to the commission next month and noted a new development-code rewrite is underway.
City planning staff asked the commission to prioritize a focused zoning-map review that would identify candidate parcels and PUDs for city-initiated rezonings ahead of the broader development-code rewrite.
Ryan, the city planner presenting the item, explained staff conducted an internal 2025 comparison of Harris County Appraisal District land-use codes against La Porte's zoning and ran the results through GIS to flag areas of inconsistency. "These red parcels that you see are where it is possible that the land use code does not match the zoning," Ryan said, describing clusters that will need windshield surveys and targeted public outreach.
Staff also described many "empty PUDs" ' planned-unit developments that never proceeded ' as priorities for rezoning to realistic uses, saying rezoning some of those parcels now would reduce the need for repeated individual SCUPs. "Really, what is probably best planning practice is for us to take a look at these empty PUDs, rezone them into what we think actually makes sense for them," Ryan said. He told the commission the city's consultant-driven development-code rewrite is "about a 24 to 30 month process," with the consultant analysis expected to go to the steering committee in July and the rewrite effort extending over the coming two years; staff proposed focusing immediate effort on the zoning map so the commission can make timely recommendations.
Staff committed to assembling the 2021 study materials, the 2025 GIS analysis, and a suggested list of priority areas for the commission to review at the next meeting. The commission generally agreed staff should prepare the packet, consider a zone-change subcommittee to screen candidates, and then present recommended priority areas for action to city council.
