by JEN BIUNDO
Buda councilmembers performed some first aid on the city’s Unified Development Code Tuesday night, easing the way for small medical offices in neighborhood settings.
The council approved a first reading of a UDC amendment adding a category for medical and dental offices to the city’s main planning document, and permitting their use in neighborhood retail and commercial (C1/R1) zoning.
That was good news for Pediatric Junction, a two-physician practice that opened five years ago on Railroad Street in Old Town Buda. Unbeknownst to co-owners Anna Lincoln and Karyn Collins, the clinic has been operating outside of the UDC for the last five years.
In 2005, the city began the process of adding medical and dental offices to the UDC. But due to an oversight, the council never adopted a final ordinance.
The physicians brought a petition from more than 200 patients and friends of the clinic, urging councilmembers to approve the ordinance permitting medical clinics in neighborhood commercial zoning.
“Our patients are your neighbors, our employees are your neighbors,” Lincoln said. “We are committed to being in this community.”
Buda Economic Development Director Warren Ketteman noted that the multiple dentists’ offices in downtown Buda also were non-conforming uses under the current code.
“They’re not asking for anything special, they’re asking to be treated like any other business in downtown Buda,” Ketteman said.
The changes proposed five years ago were stricter than those adopted Tuesday night. The council scrapped provisions that would limit a medical office in C1/R1 zoning to two practitioners, and expanded the maximum size from 3,500 to 8,000 square feet. However, councilmembers noted that few neighborhood lots were big enough to accommodate a clinic that large.
Pediatric Junction is located in the historic home of long-time Buda physician Clay Lauderdale, who cared for area residents in the first half of the 20th century. The practice occupies about 3,200 square feet on 1.3 acres, said business manager Wiley McManus. With parking requirements and a drainage easement across the property, the business likely couldn’t add more than about 400 square feet to the property.
“We’re almost maxed out as it is,” McManus said.
Councilmembers also noted that other planning restrictions, such as the city’s Historic Commission and other requirements of the UDC, would limit what doctors could build in neighborhood settings.
“If they come in to the Historic Commission and want to build a two story concrete building, that’s not going to work,” said Councilmember Sandra Tenorio.
In the same ordinance, the city also approved a series of other revisions adding new business categories to the permitted use table. Most notably, pawn shops will be limited to interstate retail and commercial zoning (C3/R3). Other new C1/R1 use specified in the UDC include antique shops, small daycares and pharmacies. Those uses likely would have been permitted under old regulations in a catch-all “other” category, Tenorio noted.
But some residents who live in areas where residential and commercial uses coexist are uneasy about the changes.
“Main Street has a 125 year history of being a commercial use area, and Railroad Street has a 125 year history of being a residential use area,” said Cedar Street resident Eileen Altmiller. “However, on these land use maps they are both treated identically.”
Echoing those concerns, Councilmember Ron Fletcher cast the sole dissenting vote.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously last week to recommend that the council adopt the proposed changes. The council may approve the final reading of the ordinance at a future meeting.
