Updated from September 5, 2023 City Council Meeting: 
At the September 5th City Council meeting a public hearing. The City Council approved Ordinance 23-S-16 for first reading by a unanimous vote (7-0). 
No changes to the proposed Specifc Use Permit have been made from the September 5th presentation. 

The applicant is requesting a Specific Use Permit to allow a convenience store with gas pumps on approximately 5.5 acres of land located at 1008 and 1020 FM 78, Schertz, TX 78154, also known as Guadalupe County Property Identification Number: 67650 and 67552, City of Schertz, Guadalupe County, Texas. More specifically, per the letter of intent submitted with the application, the proposed project would include a 6,500 square foot convenience store with gas pumps, a 2,500 square foot Burger King fast food restaurant with drive-thru, a 2,040 square foot restaurant with drive-thru and an automated car wash. The subject property was previously developed as a convenience store with gas pumps which was demolished in 2022 and is currently zoned General Business District (GB). 

Thirteen (13) public hearing notices were mailed to surrounding property owners within two hundred (200) feet of the subject property on July 7, 2023. A public hearing notice was published in the San Antonio Express on August 9, 2023. At the time of this report, staff has received three (3) responses in favor, two (2) response opposed, and one (1) response neutral to the proposed request.  The Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on this item at the July 26, 2023, meeting. 

The proposed Specific Use Permit is to allow a convenience store with gas pumps on approximately 5.5 acres of land located at 1008 and 1020 FM 78. 

It is the City’s desire to promote safe, orderly, efficient development and ensure compliance with the City’s vision of future growth.

The applicant is proposing to construct a 6,500 square foot convenience store with gas pumps, a 2,500 square foot Burger King fast food restaurant with drive-thru, a 2,040 square foot restaurant with drive-thru and an automated car wash on an approximately 5.5 acre tract of land. Per the conceptual plan, the applicant is proposing two driveway locations onto FM 78, which will be reviewed by the Texas Department of Transportation. 

The subject property is directly adjacent to FM 78, which is classified as a Principal Arterial and is currently zoned General Business District (GB). The site was previously a convenience store with gas pumps that has been demolished. The surrounding properties are also zoned General Business District (GB) with a commercial establishment (the VFW) on the west and properties used for residential purposes on the east. 

The Comprehensive Land Use Plan identifies two land use designations for this property. Adjacent to FM 78, approximately 160 feet into the subject property is designated as Commercial Campus. The rest of the property is identified as Parks, Open Space. Commercial Campus is intended to encourage development of lower intensity commercial and office uses such as research, flex-office, and supporting uses, light industrial and assembly uses. Parks, Open Space is intended to be utilized for open space and for sensitive areas such as floodplain areas. The subject property is within the floodplain as identified by FEMA. The identified floodplain is consistent with the areas identified on the Comprehensive Land Use Plan designation of Parks, Open Space. The submitted conceptual plan identifies that the proposed convenience store with gas pumps would be located outside the floodplain area. 

The proposed business would take advantage of the FM 78 frontage as it is a transportation oriented business and is dependent on the traffic generated on roadways such as FM 78 as a principal arterial. Additionally, the proposed convenience store with gas pumps and food establishments are consistent with other businesses on FM 78. The proposed Specific Use Permit for a convenience store with gas pumps is generally in conformance with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and is compatible with adjacent businesses located along FM 78. 

The subject property had previously had a convenience store with gas pumps and a car wash that had been abandoned. From aerial imagery it appears the site was used as a convenience store since at least 1995. In fall of 2022, the structures were demolished with the ultimate goal being to obtain a Specific Use Permit in order to construct a new convenience store with gas pumps in addition to two food establishments within the building. 

A Specific Use Permit allows for discretionary City Council approval of uses with unique or widely varying operating characteristics or unusual site development features, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this UDC.Approval of a specific use permit authorizes a property owner to submit subsequent development applications consistent with the approved Specific Use Permit.

The Planning & Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on July 26, 2023 and offered a recommendation of approval with modifications to the proposed conceptual plan by a 7-0 vote. The modifications requested by the Planning and Zoning Commission include relocating the dumpster to be farther away from the residential property and ensuring the eight-foot tall masonry wall and twenty foot wide landscape buffer are completed adjacent to the residential property, 1028 FM 78. These modifications have been reflected on the updated conceptual plan provided by the applicant. One page of the conceptual site plan has been attached to Ordinance 23-S-16 to illustrate the requirement imposed by the Planning and Zoning Commission as to the dumpster location and the screening wall, but the other aspects of site development are not a condition of the SUP. 

Due to the limited adverse impact on adjacent development and the compatibility between the proposed land use and the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, along with the land previously being used for a convenience store with gas pumps, Staff recommends approval of the Specific Use Permit to allow a convenience store with gas pumps at the subject property conditioned upon the following: