The City plans to ask the Planning & Zoning Commission Tuesday to recommend amending the provisions of the I-35 Overlay District to prohibit any more car dealerships along the interstate within Kyle’s city limits.
Community Development Director Howard Koontz plans to argue that these car lots waste valuable space, generate no sales taxes to the city and that they create few jobs.
According to Chapter 53-892 (a) (1) of the city’s codes, "The Interstate Highway 35 corridor conditional use overlay district (the 1-35 overlay district) extends from the northernmost city limit boundary at 1-35 to the southernmost city limit boundary at 1-35, and includes all real property within 1,500 feet of the outer most edge of the highway right-of-way of 1-35."
The overlay district dictates specific construction standards for businesses that wish to locate in Kyle along I-35. The intent of the standards, implemented in December 2012, were designed to make the city look as appealing as possible to motorists traveling on the interstate. Currently, the districts permits car dealerships, but only with a conditional use permit.
The amendment the commission will be asked to consider Tuesday, according to a memo prepared by Koontz, "would preclude motor vehicle and trailer sales, rental and leasing from establishing in the I-35 overlay corridor." Koontz said, however, these uses would be permitted if the business consisted of a single enclosed building and, even then, only with a conditional use permit.
"Motor vehicle dealers most often situate themselves in clusters, and those lots consume large tracts of land area for outdoor displays of their merchandise," Koontz wrote. "Since automobile sales do not generate local sales tax for the city, only the land on which the dealership exists would be liable for property tax, there is very little incentive for the city to accommodate them as land uses.
"Similarly, auto dealerships are not typically high volume employers, meaning there would be few opportunities for employment as related to the expansive land area consumed for the use." Koontz wrote. "As it stands today, the high visibility areas along I-35 should be reserved for those uses that provide for the needs of the motoring public, and for those uses that are less desirable as locations in toward our neighborhoods."
If the commission approves Koontz’s request, it would then be forwarded to the City Council for adoption, possibly as early as March 21. If the council approved it, Chapter 53-899 (d) 1 of the city’s code would read: "All motor vehicle and trailer sales, rentals or leasing are prohibited from operating outdoors in the I-35 Overlay District. This includes, but is not limited to, the sale, rental and leasing of cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, water craft, recreational vehicles, all terrain vehicles, OHV vehicles, buses, trailers, farm and lawn equipment, construction equipment, demolition equipment, commercial vehicles, limousines, and all other similar vehicles not listed. This description of outdoor vehicle sales applies to this entire section, including the ‘Exceptions’ subsection."
It is highly unlikely the amendment, if it passes, would have any affect on Mitchell Motorsports, located on the east side of I-35 between Center Street and Kyle Parkway, which is owned by City Council member Travis Mitchell. However, Mitchell did confirm he would recuse himself if the recommendation advanced to the council level.
"I believe it would be a conflict for me to vote or participate in this discussion," Mitchell said today.
The commission will also have three zoning requests on its Tuesday agenda, one I’ve already talked about that would make the outdoor wedding venue at the Winfield Inn a conforming use, one that could create an outdoor music venue downtown and a third, likely to be rejected, for a facility to store and sell landscape materials on land included within the aforementioned I-35 Overlay District.
John R. Nelson, the owner of the property at 107 E. Center Street that was formerly the location of the Down South Railhouse, seeks to have the location rezoned from retail services to a joint retail services/entertainment zoning. "Our goal," Nelson wrote in a letter to the City, "is to offer a outdoor entertainment venue for the City of Kyle and surrounding areas and offer live music."
The City is asking the commission to favorably recommend the zoning change to the City Council because, among other reasons, such a change "can potentially maximize what the current property can offer to the public in the form of an entertainment venue."
I’m expecting the usual anti-growth, anti-change cast of characters to come to the public hearing to oppose the change on the grounds that it will increase traffic to intolerable levels, as well as littering, public nuisances and perhaps even criminal activity in that area, none of which, except possibly the traffic concerns, can be quantified. But on the subject of traffic, the City is noting: "The section of Old Highway 81 adjacent to the parcel will likely receive much of the additional vehicular traffic. Most of the expected venue’s business will likely be during the evening and in normal circumstances, the timing of the increased vehicular load shouldn’t significantly add to peak hour traffic on the surrounding road networks traffic capacity." So there’s that.
The third and final zoning request is from Rodolfo and Guadalupe Martinez together with Mary Ann Mendoza to rezone 13½ acres at I-35 and SR 208 from agricultural to construction manufacturing so that it can be used "to store and sell landscaping materials such as mulch, topsoil, sand and gravel." The land bordering the property on the north is zoned retail services and the property south remains agriculturally zoned.
The problem with the request is that the requested zoning use is not permitted by the Comprehensive Plan for this area designated by the plan as New Settlement Community, but, more important than that, is the fact that it is currently not serviceable by municipal wastewater infrastructure and would require septic. And the last thing a city that hopes to be thought of as a up-to-date, viable, livable, sustainable community needs to do is to add more septic, especially along its principle commercial corridor. Honest Sam’s Used Car Lot would be preferable.
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