LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Lubbock City Council has given initial approval to a major rezoning request that would change how thousands of acres of land can be used in District One.
The rezoning stems from December 2018, when the Lubbock City Council adopted Plan Lubbock 2040, a road map for how the city should grow over the next two decades. Since then, the planning and zoning commission determined the current zoning of certain properties did not align with the comprehensive plan.
That’s where this first zone case comes in.
“These zone changes are intended to bring a lot of properties into conformance,” Kristen Sager, who leads the planning department, said.
City works to align zoning with growth plans
Beginning in north and east Lubbock, the city planning department is working to bring properties in line based on its goals for future growth outlined in several plans developed over the past several years.
“There are areas after we adopted the unified development code, properties may have become non conforming, because a unified development code tries to put uses in appropriate districts, where our former code allowed everything to stack upon itself,” Sager said.
The planning department conducted a zoning map analysis last year, finding properties where the current zoning did not align with existing land use or future land use plan.
“So Canyon West the area at Marsha Sharp and Milwaukee, that area is zoned industrial,” Sager said. “Because they didn’t have to re-zone it even though it has developed as commercial and retail, so this is going to benefit them by putting their properties in an appropriate zoning district.”
Residents express concerns
As this first case in District One came before council, residents expressed concerns over pollution and the environmental impact of industrial zoning.
Sager said as the city goes through this process, public input matters. Affected property owners should receive a letter in the mail.
“We always encourage our citizens to respond to those letters, call us if they have questions, come to the meetings, speak at the public hearing, we want to hear from them,” Sager said.
Lubbock City Council begins citywide re-zoning effort(KCBD)
Planning staff will present a total of six separate zone cases throughout the year during council meetings, ending with District Six in July.
Each case will go through the planning and zoning committee and then require two votes by council and a public hearing where you can make your voice heard.
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