Editor’s note: Transcript provided by CoverGov.
White’s Chapel Methodist Church won approval from the Southlake Planning and Zoning Commission for a zoning change that will allow an expansion with taller height than currently allowed.
The commission voted 6-0 at its Jan. 8 meeting to approve the zoning change.
The church, 185 S. White Chapel Blvd., plans to add 57,212 square feet in two phases. The first phase would include a youth activity center and education building addition, with a third floor over part of it, triggering the need for the zoning change. The two-story foundry building — an addition to the existing sanctuary and the second phase of the expansion — would fit with the current zoning.
The additions would be arranged in a “cluster” around the existing building “for circulation purposes,” Brent Kline, of the Lewisville architecture firm Kline Hardin, representing the church, told the planning and zoning commissioners.
The foundry will offer “more of a contemporary worship space,” Kline told the commission.
One of the commissioners asked city staff whether the expansion raised any firefighting concerns. The staff said the Southlake Fire Department had noted a need to widen the fire lane by 2 feet to accommodate ladder trucks.
Nobody spoke during a public hearing on the case. The Southlake City Council will be scheduled to consider the case and vote on it.
The current zoning is CS community service district, established in response to the educational, safety and welfare needs of the community. The requested zoning is S-P-2 generalized site plan district — which permits flexibility of area regulations but still has restrictions — with community service district uses.
Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for local government accountability at the Fort Worth Report. To learn more about how the transcript that informed this report was created, visit covergov.com.
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