Wilmer nixes mixed use development

WILMER – At the Dec. 5 joint special meeting and regular meeting of the Wilmer City Council and Wilmer Planning and Zoning Commission, the planning and zoning commission denied a request to rezone 73 acres of an existing 95 acres of planned development – light industrial zoning district.

The rezoning would have been from its current zoning of PD-l1 to a new planned development mixed residential.

The property is located on the north side of Belt Line Road.

The public hearing was conducted with the planning and zoning commission’s decision of the denial.

The city council was then called to vote on the same rezoning item, which resulted in a unanimous denial of the rezoning request.

Council members Candy Madrigal, Mayor Pro Tem and Jeff Steele made the motion and second for denial of the mixed residential development.

It was several months ago the applicant submitted a request to rezone the property.

The 73.7± acre’s is currently vacant/undeveloped, and is a portion of an existing 95.8± acre planned development (light industrial) originally established in 2008, according to staff notes from the meeting agenda.

The idea was the remainder northern 22± acres within the original planned development would retain the current light industrial zoning classification in order to construct a rail line to serve the future Prime Pointe development.

The requested rezoning was noted to be in conformance with the land use designation shown for this property in the city’s 2030 Community Plan/Future Land Use Plan.

The rezoning request however, included the multi-family residential component due to the city’s changing demands for a mixture of residential housing types intended to accommodate a socioeconomically varied housing market.