Oak Point council weighs a big-box shopping center, gas station and six pad sites at FM 720 and Shahan Prairie Road

A shopping center anchored by a large big-box store could rise at the northeast corner of FM 720 and Shahan Prairie Road in Oak Point, under a zoning change the Oak Point City Council takes up Wednesday night.

The council will hold a public hearing on amending the Wildridge planned development district for about 19.2 acres at the corner, according to the meeting agenda and packet. The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval with conditions after its own hearing on Oct. 6.

What is proposed

The applicant wants to build what the staff report calls a "multi-use" shopping center: a big-box store with attached retail on the east side, a second retail building on the north side, a fuel station with a convenience store, and six pad sites along FM 720 and Shahan Prairie Road. The report does not name a retailer.

The land is mostly zoned for commercial use already, with about 17 acres in a commercial area and about 2 acres of platted residential lots. The change would rezone eight residential parcels to commercial. Many of the planned uses are already allowed, including a grocery store of up to 75,000 square feet.

The convenience store with gas pumps had been allowed only at a site farther north, at Martop Road and FM 720, and the applicant wants to move it to this corner. Drive-thrus would be limited to three by right: a pharmacy pickup at the big-box store, one quick-service restaurant and a bank.

Staff wrote that the site is the largest vacant single parcel of commercially zoned land in Oak Point, and that the city's comprehensive plan, a 2023 corridor plan and the FM 720 overlay plan have all pointed to commercial or mixed-use development there.

Requested changes to the standards

The applicant is asking for several departures from the existing district rules:

• Lot coverage of 70% instead of 50%, a level staff says earlier projects in the area have been granted.
• A height limit of 45 feet for the anchor building only, up from 40 feet.
• About 394 parking spaces instead of roughly 446, a 12% reduction, with some spaces as small as 9 by 18 feet.
• Driveway spacing of 160 feet instead of 200.

A traffic impact analysis submitted by the applicant does not call for improvements at the intersection, the report says. Homes border the site to the north and east, where a masonry wall already exists, and the applicant plans extra screening on those sides and an 8-foot sidewalk along the roads.

The commission's conditions would limit fuel canopy brand signage to the west side, remove a building sign from the west side of the convenience store, allow taller multi-tenant monument signs that include Oak Point's name or branding, and require one architectural standard across the site.

Staff did not make a formal recommendation to the council, asking members to weigh the requested standards against the city's adopted plans.

The council meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, at Oak Point City Hall, 100 Naylor Road. The meeting will be streamed on the city's YouTube channel.

Sources

oakpointtexas.com

oakpointtexas.com