Council tables Highway 95 mixed‑use PDD after residents and council ask for traffic, drainage analysis

A proposed PDD to rezone 7.398 acres at 2002 S. Highway 95 was the focus of the meeting’s longest discussion, but the City Council voted unanimously to table the item to the next regular meeting while staff gathers additional analyses and community input.

City staff described the concept scheme—moving the parcel from Employment Center to a PDD with a P4 base—to allow a mixed-use development that would include a single-story restaurant, two‑story townhomes and three‑to‑four‑story mixed‑use buildings along Highway 95. The developer’s team described site warrants they are requesting: a 5‑foot sidewalk in places where 10 feet is required, 9×18 parking stalls instead of 10×20, a parking ratio request of 1.2 spaces per multifamily unit (instead of the city’s 1 per bedroom), and up to four stories at the highway frontage. Staff and the applicant said the site would include a detention pond and a cross‑access driveway to the south; any Highway 95 connections require TxDOT approval and permits.

Neighbors raised safety concerns during the public hearing. Heather Green, a North End advocate who lives on Pecan Street, told the council that left‑turns from the proposed access to Highway 95 are 'absolutely unreasonable' given existing speeding and backups near the Buc‑ee’s area and nearby high‑school traffic. She also described existing standing water on the site and said she worries that additional impervious surface will worsen local flooding.

Developer representatives and engineers said the project team has discussed dedicated left‑ and right‑turn lanes with TxDOT and plans a detention pond tied to an existing drainage easement. Siva (Shiva) Shankar of Paradise Engineers said the proposed detention will discharge into an existing drainage channel and that, in the team's view, a formal traffic impact analysis (TIA) would reflect the same needs: turn lanes and deceleration/acceleration lanes. "We could go through a TIA, but it's going to come up with the same results," he said.

Council members pressed on parking and safety. Mayor Pro Tem Kirkland said 1.2 spaces per unit is 'not going to fly' in a car‑dependent area like Bastrop and asked staff to anchor parking requirements to defensible rules (for example, 1 space per bedroom plus a retail parking formula). Councilmember Meyer said she would not accept routing traffic onto Hill Street near the Little League fields and urged removing 'going into town' connections from consideration. Several members said they wanted a TIA (either a quick table calculation or a stamped study) and clearer, enforceable parking language placed in the PDD so future owners would face the same minimums.

In response, staff recommended asking the council to provide specific direction for what to require: a community outreach/open house facilitated by the city, a TIA or rapid traffic calculations, minimum parking formulas tied to bedrooms and retail square footage, and clarifications on whether Linden access should be restricted. Mayor Pro Tem Kirkland moved to table the item to the next regularly scheduled meeting and direct staff to return with those analyses and recommendations; the motion passed unanimously.

Next steps: The PDD remains pending. Council directed staff to return with defined options (including a TIA, parking minimums and robust community outreach) before final action.