By Andy Sevilla.
Despite strong opposition from nearby residents, pressure from the city next door and tangible tension, a standing-room only audience’s plea for help was rejected as Kyle’s Planning and Zoning Commission green-lighted a truck stop project that has rallied organized resistance.
In a 5-2 Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission vote, a Planned Unit Development (PUD) was approved with PGI Investments – the owners of a 47.74-acre tract of land in the southern edge of Kyle who plan develop an 18,000 square-foot truck service center with 221 big rig parking spaces – sending their recommended proposal to city council for consideration.
Commissioners Cicely Kay and Alfred Zambrano voted the project down, while commissioners Dan Ryan, Mike Fulton, Pat Fernandez, Michele Christie and Michael Rubsam supported the development.
PGI investments’ development plan includes the spacious truck service center, plus a 14,000 square-foot convenience store/restaurant, and 11 total proposed lots – ten commercial and one multifamily at 28-units per acre.
Several residents of the adjacent master-planned Blanco Vista residential subdivision came out in droves and filled the chambers with a discernible tone of disapproval of the project.
“I didn’t know this (project) when I went under contract,” Greg Bennett, who is moving from Cedar Park and buying a home in Blanco Vista, told P&Z commissioners. “Had I known it, I wouldn’t be under contract.”
About 15 Blanco Vista residents spoke against the project citing safety, health, environmental and quality of life concerns. Many touched on crimes often associated with truck stops, such as prostitution, sex trade and drug smuggling.
In an August workshop, Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett told city officials that a survey his office conducted of several Texas cities with truck stops – Rockwall, Forney, Katy, San Marcos, New Braunfels, Weatherford and Jerrell – showed “minimal” impact on each respective police department. Barnett said law enforcement officials in each city were presented with the possibility to select “minimal, moderate and major” as the impact their truck stop had on police calls for service.
He did mention that one city in particular had a flare up in prostitution in the late ’90s, but through law enforcement efforts that problem was resolved and according to their officials it has not resurfaced.
Blanco Vista residents were not alone in voicing apprehension for the truck stop project. San Marcos city officials are also weighing in on the matter.
“Recently, San Marcos has completed its Comprehensive Master Plan,” San Marcos City Manager Jim Nuse wrote in a letter addressed to Kyle City Manager Lanny Lambert. “Based on the proposed truck stop at the intersection of Yarrington Road and IH 35 access road, San Marcos does not feel this use supports our future Master Plan or is in our best interest.”
San Marcos city council members will consider a resolution in opposition to the truck stop project at their Wednesday, Oct 2 council meeting.
But not everyone opposes the project. Kyle resident Gene Harris, who was the lone person to speak in support of the project at the Sept. 24 P&Z meeting, said the development should move forward.
“I see nothing wrong with this,” Harris told P&Z commissioners. “… We develop or we die. Whether you like it or not, I-35 is the lifeblood of the city of Kyle. You don’t have to like it, but it is.”
In an effort to appease the crowd of dissenters, Hugo Elizondo, the proposed development’s engineer, said he heard everyone’s concern and added that “change is not always good, at least initially. But from my perspective and my experience, every time I’ve proposed something and really have been concerned about change, at the end it’s turned out much better than I had ever anticipated.”
Ultimately the commission, in a split vote, approved the PUD with a rezoning of the property from its Agriculture designation (AG) to a Retail Services (RS) baseline zoning and a Multifamily R-3-3. The commission also approved removal of sign standards and parking standards for the multi-family zoned area from the PUD.
Last year, council members rejected the truck stop proposal that at that time featured 300 truck parking spaces. In November, council members allowed the developers to bring a scaled back version of the project back for consideration.
The proposed Kyle Travel Center is located in a Regional Node and in the New Settlement Community District of Kyle. The character of a regional node should have regional scale retail and commercial activity complemented by regional scale residential uses, according to the comprehensive plan. The node should represent the character and identity of Kyle, and signal these traits to the surrounding community, the plan states.
Regional nodes located along I-35 should be designed as entryways into the city with elements that are symbolic of Kyle and serve to attract travelers. The primary goal of the regional node, however, is to capture commercial opportunities necessary to close Kyle’s tax gap, according to the plan.
Kyle council members will take this project up for a vote at their Wednesday, Oct. 2 meeting.
