Planning & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Planning and zoning Commission meeting I'd like to do certification of quorum. We do have five of us here tonight. We are missing Daryl Knight and Trey Trey Haskins and Like let's do introduction of agenda and format of hearing

Good evening, commissioners. Tonight, the format of the hearing will be first a call to order, followed by a staff report, the applicant presentation, should they have one, followed by any public comments in support or opposition. If you are giving public comment for support or opposition of this request, please ensure you state your name for the record, be brief, to the point, and within a three-minute time frame. Following that will be the commission and staff discussion. At that time, the commission can ask questions of staff or the applicant, should they have any. And then the commission will vote to either recommend approval as presented, approval with conditions, or denial of the request, or they will table the item should they feel they need additional information prior to making a final decision. On our agenda tonight, we have the consent agenda, which includes a consideration for excused absences, approval of the minutes, and two final plots. And then as our new business items tonight, we have one conditional use permit. Thank you, Ms. Chair.

Thank you. Now on to consent agenda.

Chair, I'd like to have items C and D removed from the consent agenda.

Do we need a second? No, okay. So we need to vote on A and B on the consent agenda. So everyone in favor? Passes five to zero. Next is our

You're going to do items removed?

Yes.

Regarding consent agenda items C and D, Texas Local Government Code Section 212.009D states that the municipal authority responsible for approving PLATs fails to approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove a PLAT within the prescribed period, the authority on the applicant's request shall issue a certificate stating the date the PLAT was filed and that the authority failed to act on the PLAT within the period. the certificate is effective in place of the endorsement required by subsection C. For item C and item D, the Planning and Zoning Commission is the municipal authority responsible for approval. Two of the five P&Z commissioners who are present at today's meeting have filed conflict of interest affidavits and must recuse themselves. And in accordance with the city's ethics ordinance, they must not be present in the council chambers while these items are considered. Without a quorum, no action can be taken on these items. And so if two of you were to leave, we would lose our quorum. Therefore, no action will be taken today for consent agenda item C or item D or within the period prescribed by Chapter 212 regarding approval, approval with conditions, or disapproval. The authority on the applicant's request shall issue a certificate stating the date the plat was filed and that the authority failed to act on the plat within the statutory period. Pursuant to state law, this certificate is effective in place of the endorsement required by section 212.009.

Thank you for that explanation. All right, moving on to new business. Consideration and possible action for a conditional use permit, applicant CUP2026-0302, a request by Alan Mueller, applicant on behalf of Moorfield, the third LLC owner, for approval of a conditional use permit for an auto wash self-service use within the general business district and the general commercial district on approximately 1.528 acres of land to it. The address for the property is 1705 Broadway Street, Pearland, Texas. Turn it back to you, staff.

Good evening, Madam Chair, Commissioners. My name is Lamia Salem. I will be presenting this item to you today. The request is for approval of a conditional use permit CUP for an auto wash self-service within the general business district and a small strip of land within the subject property is zoned general commercial GC district. The development of approximately 5100 square foot tunnel car style wash facility with vacuum stations in an office building. on approximately 1.52 acres tract, located west of Dixie Farm Road and north of Broadway Street. This is the subject property along Broadway Street with approximately 150 foot of frontage on Broadway, which makes it a subject to the corridor overlay district as well as the zoning regulations for GB and GC. The surrounding uses on the north side is a parcel owned by the Brazoria County Drainage District number four and residential north of the Marist Creek. On the south side, there is a Walmart across Broadway Street and fast food restaurant. On the east side, there is a multi-tenant restaurant and retail. On the west side is a mini self-storage facility within GC district. Staff has posted notices, sent notices to all the property owners within 200 feet radius of the subject property. A notification sign was placed on the subject property by the applicant. We have not received any phone calls or written comments in support or against the proposal. Little bit of a history about this site. It was annexed into the city in 1960s, was developed as a residential property. Early 2000, it began operating as Yard Art Arras. On March 24th of 2025, applicant received an approval for a CUP. On July 2nd of 2025, applicant submitted a building permit application and was not close to being approved within the timeframe of one year of the CUP. On March 16, city council disallowed an extension request to the approved CUP. March 24 of 2026, the issued CUP was expired. And therefore, we are here to, the new owner of the property is looking to have a new CUP approved. This is the site plan, pretty much same as the previous CUP. However, I highlighted some changes that were not previously provided to you on the previous CUP. The ownership changed in October of 2025 of the subject property. Driveway access was moved to the middle of the property, allowing the Bradford tree to be serviced and preserved on the right of way. Applicant obtained TxDOT approval on March 31st of this year. and also obtained BDD4 board approval, and in the process of obtaining a construction permit by BDD4. Also, the applicant is proposing a five foot high retaining wall on the northern boundary of the property, which would reduce the impact of light spilling on the adjacent properties. There is two car washes within one mile radius of the subject property, and four car washes in total within two miles, one of which is outside the city's jurisdiction. Eight car washes within three miles in total, and three of which are outside the city's jurisdiction. The request meets certain criteria such as the comprehensive plan, future land use plan, the thoroughfare plan, unified development code. On utilities, the site has access to city water along Broadway Street. However, sanitary sewer system by gravity, they do not have access. And the applicant is working to obtain a combination of gravity sewers and force main with its associated lift station and working with our engineering staff. applicant obtained a board approval drainage plan from BDD4 and in the process of obtaining a construction permit. Driveway location is approved by TxDOT. The request meets section 2.2.3.4A, conditional use permits criteria. However, if the pending, the TIA approval, it will meet seven out of seven criteria. As of right now, it meets six criteria out of seven. Staff recommends approval of the requested CUP for the proposed auto wash with the following conditions. The first, applicant must obtain approval of the requested TIA worksheet by the city's engineering department. Second, The site shall be developed in substantial conformance with the site plan submitted with the application, subject to any modifications necessary to comply with applicable city codes, ordinances, and development standards identified during the permit review process. And this concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much. We need to do a motion for approval. I missed that.

Katie, can I go ahead and make a motion for approval including amendments?

Yes, you can make that motion.

Okay, I make a motion for approval with the addition of staff recommended amendments.

Commissioner Henrich, second.

All right, next we're up to applicant presentation. Is the applicant here and would you like to do presentation?

I'm here and I'm ready.

Perfect, if you'll state your name for the record.

I'm sorry, I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. It's right here, I know, I'm sorry. Allen Mueller, did you say address as well? Yes, 1408 Bent Lake here in Pearland. I do have a presentation if somebody can flip it over for me, thank you. Again, I'm Alan Mueller. Thank you for your time this evening. I've got several people here I want to introduce that are along with us. So first of all, we've got Lee Garrido, who's with Quick Quack, the car wash folks. We have Dave Murray, who's the representative of the property owner. And then from Lone Star Builders, who will be the contractor, we have Brandon Dennison and Brian Romney. Sorry, did I say Brandon or Brian? Did I get? Brandon Dennison, Brian Romney, excuse me, from Elevate Engineering, Steven Lord. They worked directly with Quick Quack doing their specific site improvements. And then with ALJ Lindsey, we have Jose Guerra, who is based here in Houston, and they do the getting the pad ready, so working on the tension and sanitary sewer and things like that. Don't worry, we're not all gonna speak, but when I wrap up here, I'm gonna ask Brandon and Lee to just make a few comments before we wrap up. So we'll start with that. Thank you for the presentation. And so, just a little bit of history. I think you all know, again, there was a CUP that was approved. The extension was not approved. Prior to that, the CUP actually, or after the CUP was granted a year ago, or 18 months ago, there was just a lot of site conditions that applicants weren't fully aware of when they got into it. And so, as you sometimes find. We believe all of those things have been fixed up at this point, and so that's why we're back. But just kind of wanted to reset in terms of why we're here. And so looking at the site in particular, there's a lot of challenges with the site that need to be overcome. First one, as you all know, this was the Mays lawn art place forever. And I remember watching as things developed, this tract was getting boxed in. So first you had the Pearland Corner plat that was done. And actually, I went back and looked, and there was actually no cross-access granted to this tract when that plat was granted. way back when. And then on the west side, the mini storage was built. That's a totally fenced site, which also doesn't have any cross access that provides access to this property. So really, this tract kind of got passed over by development, and it's now just sort of this small remnant that's left in the middle. Again, it's 1.5 acres, and so just by comparison, the Pearland Corner, the retail center is 6.2 acres, the mini storage is 2.8 acres. The new Whataburger across the street is on 1.7 acres, about the same size, but it has all kinds of access through the Walmart property as opposed to one single access. And so this site's really kind of disadvantaged in that regard. It does have about 168 feet of street frontage, which just barely meets the minimum of 150 feet for this zoning district. As I mentioned, no cross-access was provided, so it has to rely on itself to do that. As was mentioned, there is no gravity sewer in Broadway in front of this track. Again, it kind of got passed over. We do have a plan for that that we'll discuss here shortly. And then finally, the back portion of the property is encumbered by floodplain, which makes it even more challenging. So the car wash, we believe, is really well suited to this site. First of all, it's a relatively small building footprint of 5,100 square feet, so we can efficiently make that work on the site and still provide enough maneuverability. It also allows for all the floodplain mitigation that needs to happen and keep Mary's Creek open. A car wash also has relatively low traffic volume compared to other uses that could be on the site. So the manual's just been updated, but for a facility like this at 5,100 square feet, In the PM peak hour, you would expect 124 trips. And just for comparison, a fast food restaurant of the same size would be about 30% more trips. So from looking at comparable uses that could go here, this is a relatively small traffic user, which is good because as I said, there's no cross access and so you can more easily rely on that one single access point getting in and out of the property. The property currently has two driveways, and so we'll be closing one and just consolidating into one driveway, so we're helping to bring that up to code as well. Also, with car washes, in the past there have been concerns expressed with regard to visual and sound conditions, and so the conditions that we've proposed I think largely mitigate those. In the packet, in our applicant presentation, we proposed 13 voluntary conditions that are in our letter of intent. We took all of the original conditions from the first CUP and incorporated those. Many of them are related to screening of the perimeter, as well as the tree that was mentioned, saving the tree. As far as noise is concerned, the vacuum systems, there's two banks, and so there's a centralized vacuum system for each one of those. Just wanted to clarify that it is a centralized system, but there's two, one for each bank, but we don't have a whole number of individual vacuum systems. It's all contained into those two. The facade does meet the corridor overlay requirements, and specifically, the exit door does not face Broadway, so as you exit the tunnel, there'll be a right turn so that you'll exit to the west, and so that that door will not be open, which also helps to not only buffer the visual, but the noise would kind of be directed, any noise would be directed towards the mini storage uses. Hours of operation, as noted there, limited to either 7 or 9 p.m., depending on the time of the year, and all lights off at 10 p.m., which, again, if you have a fast food restaurant or some other kind of comparable use, you're gonna have lights till midnight or later in many cases. So this is a good use in terms of being a low impact on the site. Additionally, we've added additional requirements. Again, we know from the last time through there was concerns about just the amount of time that it took to get permitting, so we voluntarily said, hey, we're gonna submit everything within two months in terms of the site work permit and the building permit, and so the team is ready to do that. As far as construction management, we know that was a concern that was expressed earlier, so we've been very clear in the conditions about making sure that there's silt fencing around the perimeter, that there's protection for Mary's Creek going that direction, street sweeping during construction, and then orange construction fencing on the side lot lines just to help keep everything contained. And finally, we know this all has to be contingent on getting TxDOT, drainage district, and sanitary sewer approvals Most of this was covered, I think, but we do have the TxDOT permit. It was approved back in March, so that part of it's ready to go. Drainage District has approved the drainage plan and the construction plans. We can't submit to the city until the CUP is approved, so it's kind of a quirk of the permitting system that we can't submit until we get past this stage. Similarly, sanitary sewer, that plan has been worked out in terms of how that's going to be served and we'll be happy to elaborate on that. But again, we just can't submit those plans until we get past this portion. This is a similar table of the conditions. I went ahead and plugged in yes on all of them just because I think that last one we're going to be able to handle no problem. So we feel like we've handled this site and it will be a good use for this location and good for the community. So before we wrap up, I want to first start with Brandon Dennison with Lone Star Builders to say a few words.

Thanks, Alan, and thanks to all you commissioners for being here tonight, taking the time out of your day to hear us. And, you know, I first of all want to say that, you know, we recognize that there has been dissatisfaction from the city, from city staff, and from residents without the previous car wash in Pearland. how the construction went, and so I just want to apologize to all of you, to the city on Lone Star's behalf for how that project went. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than that, and we are confident that with the conditions that are provided by staff and that we voluntarily give in, we think that this next project will go a lot smoother and we're confident in that and we're committed to making sure that happens. We went and walked the site earlier today with the engineers and the construction team and it's a larger site, there's space on the property to make sure we have everything staged, there's better access, there's no median there so we're able to access the property better. So we're confident and we hope that you can trust us that we will do a better job on this one and not only trust us but you know, Remember that there are conditions here that require us to make sure that this is going to go smoothly. So I appreciate Alan. He did a great job explaining everything. Of course, I'm here to answer any questions you might have from Lone Star. And Lee can, of course, answer any questions as well. He's from Quick Quack. And we have our general manager of construction and engineers here. So please feel free. If you have any questions, let us know. And again, I appreciate your time.

Can I just get your name and address for the record?

Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, Brandon Dennison, 889 North, 1300 East, Spanish Fork, Utah.

Thank you.

And our cleanup hitter is Mr. Lee Garrido from Quick Quack.

Mr. Lee, if you'll state your name and address as well. Sure. Thank you.

First name is Lee, last name is Garrido. Address is 5173 Ballard Bluff Way, Sacramento, California. I just wanted to be present today to reemphasize QuickQuack's commitment to this project. Lone Star is a great partner with us, especially here in Houston and the Dallas Metro. And we're expecting more rigorous oversight on the build out of this particular project. We know that there were issues in the past. And then also reiterate our commitment as a brand to community, and especially City of Pearland and others. The Houston MSA is a very important market to us. We are based out of Rockland, California, but Houston is the most active that we're growing as far as large MSAs, and we just want to build a brand Locally, eventually we'll have a national platform. We have almost 360 stores now. But we build that brand community by community.

Excuse me.

So just wanted to stress that it's very important to us, very important to our business and sustainability of our business. our business model here throughout the Houston MSA. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That's it for us, we're happy to answer questions when you're ready.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here wishing to speak for or against this item? Anyone wishing to speak for or against this item? All right, take it to our discussion.

Thank you, Chair. I think I was the only lone holdout last time. You know, my only concern, we've got another one that's six-tenths of a mile from this one. I would lots rather have y'all's there than theirs where theirs is at. They made their blower out the back, so that just blows to the neighborhood. And unfortunately, my yard backs up that direction. But y'all met all the criteria, y'all done everything that we asked and that council asked. I'm not gonna be a holdout this time. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple of questions, and I don't know who might be able to answer them. I know that I thought that staff mentioned that you guys agreed to a five foot fence in the back. And I thought the answer was for light reduction.

Yeah, that may have been a little miscommunicated. That's the retaining wall, so that's not a fence. So the retaining wall is in the back, you know, to hold up the fill of the site. So somebody may be able to tell me. I don't think we have a fence planned on that backside. And that's fine. If that's a requirement, I guess we can look at it.

No, I just wanted to clarify, because a five-foot fence didn't make sense if you got lights that are high and... And then you guys said you were gonna turn them out at 10. What does it matter if you got a five foot fence that's magically blocking? So you get my point.

Yeah, that's a great clarification. And as you can see in the landscape plan, we have landscaping all along that back area. And that's really what is designed to screen the residences that are a ways off from our property line, but it will be screened nonetheless.

So help me understand, one of you guys that's an expert, I've been to other cities. I've heard them say dark sky. This is going to be a dark sky site. What does that mean? Does that mean no light is visible from a neighbor 200 feet away or next door neighbor magically can't see the light?

Yeah, I might need one of the engineers to. talk to me about how light works, but basically we have a photometric plan that shows how strong the light is at each point on the site.

What I'm looking for, really, to save you the time, maybe the speech here, is You know, you do have back neighbors, but I believe, if I'm not mistaken, you've got X amount of feet that you're not utilizing because you're in the floodplain, you've got the creek, and then you've got the neighbors on the other side. No light's going to bleed onto that. Correct. We're not going to get neighbor complaints that the light's shining in my eyes, right? Correct. Got it. And I apologize that you stood up for nothing. My next question, and maybe this was was said and I got ADD. Why did the city council vote no zero to six last time on the extension?

None of us that are here were actually there, so I think I'd be speculating as to what their motive was.

Is that a fair question to staff? Not trying to put you on the spot, but if there's something on the public record that... That's a great question.

We would encourage you and your team to watch the video if you all are interested in hearing why the extension request was denied.

Well, that doesn't help me tonight.

I'll just say that the conditions that we added were intended to make sure we were listening to what they said.

Fair enough, and you had quite a bit of them that you volunteered, so I assumed there was something there. Thank you, that's all I'm also for.

Yeah, I think since we already approved a cup once and they've already gone through the engineering process, It's just a matter of if they identified the concerns of city council, because that's going to be who's going to tell you a yay or nay after us anyway. So I feel confident that you guys have probably done that. Even though you weren't there, you probably got feedback from somebody. So, yeah.

We try to listen.

I'm not opposed to this. I'm for it.

I was just curious, does the 518... future expansion go this far on Broadway? It doesn't? Okay. Okay. That was my question, if that site plan took into consideration the new setbacks. Other questions?

I'm sorry, I have one question, just a design question. My ignorance here, I don't know that I've ever seen a car wash tunnel go down and then make a right turn. I'm assuming that's because you'd bleed right into the incoming traffic if you didn't, but that's a possibility and a crafty way out of an issue, I guess.

Yeah, it's mainly designed because of the Broadway Corridor District where we can't have the overhead doors facing Broadway Street. And so it's basically an enclosed area of the car wash, and it has the same type of radius that the engineers designed it so that the same cars that can make it through a normal car wash can make that turn. And kind of a benefit of that as well is, like Alan mentioned, it keeps the noise down as well.

Good for the noise. I don't agree with the... not facing the street. If I'm traveling east here going towards Friendswood, I'm gonna be looking at that exit for a long period. If it was straight in front of the street, I'd see it as I pass by and that's it.

So I hope y'all, I wasn't talking into the mic, but it doesn't matter anyways.

Understood, thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks for your presentation. I like the changes that have been made, and I'm definitely for this. Anybody have anything else they want to discuss? All right, let's vote. Everyone in favor, please vote by raising your right hand. All right, this passes five to zero. Thank y'all. Next step is discussion items.

Y'all don't have to stay for this. Y'all are good.

Thank y'all. Thanks for traveling.

All right. Thank you, Chair. Rules of procedure update. We have discussed the rules of procedure at the June 15th meeting, the July 6th meeting, and now tonight at the July 20th meeting. And we have implemented all of the requested changes that you all have suggested to us and in the packet was a red line copy and then a clean copy of the revisions. And then we are here tonight to potentially have you all provide a recommendation to the city council on the updated rules of procedure. Thank you.

Do we need to make a motion on this? Or are we just discussing? I'm thinking we make a motion because you're asking us to. No?

If someone wants to make a motion to approve the redlined version and accept that as your new rules and procedures, you can.

I'll make a motion to approve the rules of procedure as stated after being redlined.

Commissioner Combo second.

Do y'all have any discussion?

Just appreciate the hard work and all the inputs.

Call for a vote if no one has anything they want to discuss. Everyone in favor? Show your right hand, raise your right hand, sorry. Passes five to zero. the next City Council update report.

Okay, so we had City Council on July 13th, and there was one item. It was the second reading for the zone change for approval of the split zoning along Broadway, and it was approved unanimously. So that was second and final reading.

Great. Thank you. All right, our next meeting is August 3rd at 6.30, and our meeting is adjourned at 7.06.