Boerne City Council gave a unanimous thumbs up for Honda to continue its trek toward constructing a dealership on 10.47 acres along Interstate 10.
The council supported passage of a special use permit for the automobile company as recommended by the Boerne Planning and Zoning Commission, who in December 2023 reviewed a revised site plan presented by the property developers.
Boerne Planning Director Nathan Crane led council through a timeline at the January 9 meeting and explained the revisions the P&Z felt were necessary for Honda to receive the permit for the site at 31905 West Interstate 10, just north of the Mazda dealership.
Crane highlighted differences between an original site plan, submitted in June, and a revised plan brought before P&Z in December.
Building square footage was reduced 14,000-plus square feet, to 45,845; customer and employee parking was reduced from 835 to 740 spaces; a landscape buffer between the dealership and homes to the west (behind) the property expanded from a minimum of 20 feet, to 40-77 feet; impervious cover was reduced to 7.12 acres, from 8 acres; and tree preservation went from 49 trees to 189 trees, including 18 heritage trees.
The property is not in the floodplain or any drainage protection zones, and also abides by the city’s Dark Sky ordinance.
“I’d like to thank the staff and applicant who worked diligently on this together to try to achieve a mutual objective.” Crane said.
Crane reviewed one addition to Honda’s efforts to continue with the project since the December 4 P&Z meeting, when Scott Crabtree, president of Pohanka Automotive Group of Loudoun County, Virginia, pitched the dealership plans to the commission.
At issue was the rear setback, the boundary between the fence line of existing homes and the rear (western) edge of the dealership. Honda was prepared to erect a fence between the homeowners’ fences and its property.
But several people approached P&Z, including Ryan Bass, Boerne’s environmental program manager, about the number of trees and shrubs that would need to be cleared for workers to access the property in the buffer zone.
“To allow existing vegetation to remain, the applicant has contacted each homeowner along that western boundary and offered financial assistance for them to repair their fences, if they so chose,” Crane said.
District 5 Councilman Joseph Macaluso spoke in favor of allowing the fence variance, given Honda's effort to reach out to its neighbors.
“The primary concern I had was the residential area behind. They would have been left with a 20-foot buffer,” Macaluso said. “Now they’ve got between 40 and 77 feet of highly treed buffer.
'In this particular case, I would be in favor of the variance,” he said. Macaluso and Mayor Frank Ritchie thanked the city and developer for working together on the SUP revisions.
“My primary concern was how the residents were being handled, and they are being taken care of. I think they're happy,” Macaluso said.
“I want to thank staff, planning and zoning, and the applicant,” Mayor Ritchie said, “for all your hard work in this endeavor. This is what happens when organizations are willing to work together.”
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