By Andy Sevilla

The best part of waking up: for some it’s coffee, for others it’s not having a commercial development outside their doorstep.

Buda council members delayed deciding a rezoning request that would have paved the way for a rumored coffee shop along FM 967, just north of its intersection with Cole Springs Road. 

The property owner of a three-quarter acre tract of land fronting on FM 967, adjacent to the Creekside Villas Senior Village community, seeks to rezone that property from Multi-Family Residential (MFR) to Arterial Commercial/Retail/Office (C2/R2). 

Buda council members, however, are not ready to make a decision until it’s clear what business will open up shop there, if the change is approved.

Buda Mayor Todd Ruge, who didn’t hint at approval or denial of the requested change, said at an Oct. 21 council meeting that rezoning requests are not uncommon. It’s pretty standard, he said, but this request is different.

“With a lot this size, I’m really leery about changing it without knowing exactly what’s going to go in there,” he said. “It almost makes me think that it’s something we may not want, but it all falls into that (zoning designation).”

Ruge said the size of the site, construction limitations due to a bluff on the western portion of the property and its proximity to residents are all cause for concern.

Some Creekside Villas residents expressed hesitation over site distance and traffic, according to city staff. Landowners within the 200-foot notification area have also requested additional information on the project, though none have indicated an opinion for or against the requested change, staff said.

The property owner’s consulting engineer, Andrew Dodson of Vickrey and Associates in Austin, told council the owner is looking to locate a coffee or sandwich shop at that location, though nothing has been finalized. Dodson said he has a set of plans on his desk calling for the construction of a 1,500 square-foot building. 

Council members George Hahn and Wiley Hopkins asked the city attorney if was permissible for council to table the matter until a clear picture was presented of what is being proposed at the subject property.

The attorney said that the weight of the zoning modification is based on the intensity of the use of the property. 

“The use of the property is not your particular consideration, other than the intensity of the use,” the attorney said. “And so if a commercial retail office on a three-quarter acre property will increase or decrease the intensity to the surrounding properties, then that will be a basis for you to approve or deny it, depending on whether you felt that’s compatible.”

He went on to suggest that a coffee shop may have heightened traffic in the morning hours and likely not the rest of the day, may create less traffic than a multi-family development, which could locate on that site under the city’s current zoning rules.

“The downside to what you just said is that it’s all hypothetical,” Hopkins told the attorney. “As we move forward today, we still don’t know what’s going to come in.”

In the past, Ruge said when applicants have requested zoning modifications, they presented renderings or drawings of what would be located should the change be granted. Though the drawings are not part of the consideration, he said, sometimes they worked in the applicant’s favor, and other times they worked against.

“I understand,” Dodson said. “It’s just kind of contrary to state law to tie a specific site plan to a zoning case.”

Staff said the zoning change is consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan, according to city documents. The lot is located in the Green Growth District, where neighborhood shopping centers and office uses are conditionally appropriate depending on the particular property and location, per the Comprehensive Plan. 

C2/R2 zoning is presently designated to the north and west of the subject property, and the Creekside Villas (MFR) is to the north/east. 

Staff is aware of limited site distance concerns, as the property is situated along the upward curve on FM 967. However, roadway improvements currently under construction may benefit the lot’s otherwise peculiar location, staff said in their recommendation for approval.

Construction currently underway on FM 967 would improve that stretch of roadway to two travel lanes with a center turn lane and shoulders. Those improvements also call for the removal of a portion of the hill, which would provide for an additional 200-feet of site distance, staff said. 

The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval for the change at its Oct. 14 meeting. For now, the council unanimously tabled a decision on the requested zoning modification. Council member Angela Kennedy was absent from the meeting.