New Braunfels is considering commercial-office zoning for 2.6 acres at 1283 State Highway 46 South; the applicant proposes a counseling office, but the requested district permits other uses.
The proposal would change the zoning rules beside Hidden Springs and along Highway 46 South, where the city says it notified owners of 13 nearby properties.
The newly posted staff report says the applicant wants to remodel an existing house into professional-service and counseling offices. City planners recommend approval. Their rationale is that the office district would be a lower-intensity transition between Highway 46 and the nearby homes.
The proposed zoning reaches beyond one office
The site is currently zoned R-2 AH and APD AH, residential and agricultural predevelopment districts under the airport hazard overlay.
The city's comparison table lists a range of additional uses permitted in the proposed C-O district, including professional offices, child day care and multifamily apartments or condominiums. That table describes district permissions; it is not a plan to build all of those uses at this address. The applicant's stated counseling-office intent is narrower than the zoning request.
The city map places the parcel on the north side of Highway 46 South beside the Hidden Springs neighborhood. It also marks a one-percent-annual-chance flood-hazard area at the rear of the property. The staff report says that location limits development there; any later site design would need to account for that constraint.
The city says it sent hearing notices to owners of 13 properties within 200 feet. The notification exhibit gives nearby owners a parcel map and identifies the properties notified, making it a useful document for neighbors to inspect before the hearing.
What happens next
The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. and make a recommendation to City Council. The Oct. 7 agenda identifies this as a public hearing and recommendation item.
The hearing is scheduled for City Hall Council Chambers, 550 Landa Street. Commissioners can recommend a course to the council; the posted item does not itself change the zoning. Readers can compare the requested district's uses in the table and the site's mapped relationship to nearby homes before the hearing. The eventual council record will show whether the request is approved, altered or denied.
Comal.News previously reported the initial proposal in its account of the Highway 46 clinic and office zoning request. This update adds the posted staff recommendation, land-use comparison and neighbor-notification details.