The City Council held four public hearings Thursday regarding new developments, along with ideas to make an Oncor Electric Delivery switch station easier on the eyes.
The hearings covered apartments, a gas station and a permit for a manufactured home. In addition, Oncor Muscovy Switch will occupy 52 acres on the north side of U.S. 79, east of FM 3349, but council members said the site needs a little sprucing up.
“This is one of the first properties that is seen when traveling into Taylor from the west. It’s an important gateway into the city. So staff had asked the applicant to provide additional screening with either additional trees or shrubbery or a pre-cast masonry wall,” said Development Services Director Martin Griggs.
After discussion at the Feb. 10 Planning and Zoning Commission, the project was sent to the council for approval with a 6-foot grasscovered berm proposed to screen the station from the highway.
Instead, city staffers will ask Oncor to consider building an 8-foot concrete precast wall around the project and will report back to council later.
Council members generally agreed that a screen was needed, with some saying the substation on 79 between Taylor and Hutto is unattractive.
That station has no cover and is fully visible from the road.
The agenda item revived an earlier discussion about the proposed Oncor transmission lines going through Taylor, and the new transmission route being planned but not yet routed.
After vigorous and sometimes contentious public debate at a previous session about the controversial power lines, the council asked Oncor to design a new route around town to avoid installing more giant utility lines within the city.
“Being able to care so much about how that (switch station) looks on our highway and as we approach our town, (we need) to care equally as much about how it comes through our properties, how it goes through different areas of our town and how it affects not only visually but also the financial worth of that area,” resident Carrie D’Anna said during the public hearing.
She asked the council to consider holding off approval of the switch station until the new transmission route is confirmed.
Ashton Miller, a site specialist with Oncor, said the switching station will connect to Taylor’s existing lines so that power can be diverted to different areas should there be an outage.
It is not known if the station will serve the new lines since the route has not been determined.
Councilman Kelly Cmerek questioned whether a 6-foot berm was adequate to shield the view from the road, instead suggesting the facility should have a visual barrier around all sides.
More apartments for Gateway Square
Developers for Gateway Square want to increase the planned number of multifamily residences from 256 to 376, fitting 70 more families into the 38-acre lot than was originally planned.
The development will sit near the busy intersection of Carlos G. Parker Boulevard and FM 973.
Plans include two hotels, retail and restaurant spaces, town homes, apartments and a clubhouse. Griggs said a traffic-impact analysis would be required later. Because the Thursday agenda item involved only a public hearing, no action was taken.
New gas station, truck stop planned
A public hearing also introduced an application for a convenience store and gas station. The developer of the 2.5-acre lot at 600 Potomac St. and Carlos G. Parker Boulevard said the gas station will serve 18-wheelers and commuter traffic.
The property is bordered by Mustang Creek Golf Course to the north and Carlos G. Parker to the south and is adjacent to only two residential properties, both of which are larger than an acre.
Development request spurs code enforcement
During the public hearing for a zoning change on 1025 Scott St., the council was alerted to potential code violations in the neighborhood. The owner of the lot has asked to build a a manufactured home on the property, which is not zoned for that type of structure.
The lot currently has no dwelling but is used for car storage. A condition of approving the zoning change would be removal of the cars.
A neighbor who did not identify herself said there are many other properties in the neighborhood used to store cars.
City Manager Brian LaBorde said he would send the code compliance officer to the area to investigate.
Though the neighborhood is not zoned for manufactured housing, Griggs said there are three such homes already there. Because they pre-date the current regulations, they are grandfathered in.
Mayor Dwayne Ariola cited the discrepancy as a reason to revise the current comprehensive plan and land-use code.
“There’s already manufactured homes in this neighborhood, but they’ve got to go through this process to add additional ones. It’s just more added work,” he said.
