Commission recommends city council allow Sendero lots up to 80% impervious cover

The Bastrop Planning & Zoning Commission voted to recommend that city council approve a warrant allowing up to 80% lot coverage on P5-core lots within the Sendero development, a change from the 65% maximum adopted by the city earlier this year.

Planner Britney, who introduced the request, told commissioners the project encompasses roughly 43.8176 acres and that the development’s earlier approvals and a master drainage plan were designed for higher impervious coverage. “The drainage plan was explicitly designed for 80% impervious coverage for all of the P 5 lots,” Britney said during the presentation.

Staff clarified the history for the commission: the council approved the zoning change in Sept. 2022 and a master drainage plan was signed off in Aug. 2023; that drainage plan and the installed infrastructure — including the detention pond and main conveyance pipes — were designed to handle runoff at the 80% scenario. “The developer has put in the pond, the main pipes, the infrastructure,” staff explained when summarizing the built-out drainage system.

Commissioners pressed staff on downstream impacts and whether allowing higher lot coverage would increase runoff to neighbors. Staff said the design was reviewed and approved by city engineers and that the intent of the B3 code change (reducing impervious cover to 65%) was to reduce future runoff, but that the Sendero lots were previously planned and engineered to the 80% scenario. A commissioner asked that the record reflect downstream residents’ flood concerns; staff answered that the pond and related infrastructure were sized to maintain existing discharge rates.

A motion to recommend approval to the council passed on a roll call recorded in the meeting: five ayes and one no. The commission forwarded the recommendation for the warrant to the city council for final action.