This is a City-initiated rezoning proposal for the New Territory Commercial Areas over four main commercial portions of the New Territory community, located 1) south of Highway 90A and west of Easton Avenue; 2) south of Highway 90A and east of Grand Parkway 99; 3) north and south of New Territory Blvd and east of Grand Parkway 99; 4) along Homeward Way and south of Gateway Boulevard, from Interim Standard Single-Family Residential (R-1-I) to Neighborhood Business (B-1), General Business (B-2), or Business Office (B-O) (see vicinity map). These areas total approximately 78 acres.
The New Territory area was recently annexed in December 2017 and received Interim Standard Single-Family zoning at that time. Permanent zoning is required post-annexation; therefore, the City has initiated the permanent rezoning process for the commercial areas of New Territory. The process began with notifications for the February 2018 public hearing at the Planning & Zoning Commission, and in addition to the notice, a letter further explaining the zoning change was sent to the commercial property owners and to property owners who are within 200 feet of the commercial properties within New Territory. This process was again followed for notification of the April 2018 City Council public hearing.
The proposed zoning categories are recommended to closely match up with the existing uses that have been developed within the commercial areas of New Territory over time. Staff conducted fieldwork and site visits to all the commercial business areas to better understand the current commercial uses, and this information has gone into the Planning Department recommendations for specific zoning categories. While the specific commercial zoning categories are designed to closely mirror the uses developed in New Territory, the zoning also offers protections to adjacent residential neighborhoods. In regards to the residential areas in New Territory currently zoned R-1-I, staff anticipates the permanent zoning process to take place in future phases, and those properties are not included in this permanent zoning request.
The Planning & Zoning Commission held a public hearing on February 22, 2018 on the proposed commercial zoning at which no members of the public spoke. The Commission believed the proposed zoning districts for the New Territory commercial properties were reasonable based on the existing uses and in character with the surrounding neighborhoods. On March 13, 2018 the Commission unanimously recommended approval to the Mayor and City Council with no changes to the staff recommendation. During the Commission review period, staff received a total of six inquiries from commercial property owners interested in additional information with regard to the zoning. At the time of writing this report, staff has not received any additional inquiries following the Planning & Zoning Commission recommendation.