City staff recommends denying 12-lot subdivision outside Midland city limits

What to watch: Midland’s Planning and Zoning Commission will meet Monday, Nov. 2, to consider dividing 16.44 acres outside city limits into 12 residential lots, a request city staff now recommends denying after it was pulled from the commission’s last meeting.

Commissioners will also consider a new location for Lone Star Sanctuary for Animals, two Midland ISD properties, a retail development staff recommends denying at the final plat stage and 99 additional residential lots in Mockingbird Ridge.

Key points:

• 12-lot subdivision: A property owner wants to divide 16.44 acres at 3901 W. County Road 145, about 2,900 feet west of South County Road 1210, into 12 lots to sell for future residential development. Staff recommended approval when the request appeared on the Oct. 19 agenda, but the item was pulled before a vote. Staff now recommends denial because the property needs a drainage report at the preliminary plat stage and the county requires 60 feet of right-of-way. If commissioners approve the request, staff recommends requiring an approved drainage report and completing or deferring public improvements before a final plat.The lots would use groundwater, and the required state groundwater availability certification has been approved.

  The property is in Midland’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), an area outside city limits where the city has limited authority over how land is divided. Texas law does not require cities to maintain these areas, and property owners can petition to leave them.

• Animal sanctuary site: Lone Star Sanctuary for Animals wants to divide about 25 acres into one lot for a new animal sanctuary, about 650 feet north of East Cynthia Drive and 1,584 feet east of North Fairgrounds Road. The vacant property is currently zoned for single-family, duplex and planned residential development. Staff recommends approval if City Council first rezones the property to agricultural estate. The city’s comprehensive plan designates the area for parks and open space. Preliminary plats covering 25 acres or more require City Council approval before a final plat.
• Retail lot reconfiguration: Midland Regency Partners, LLC wants to reconfigure four lots on 2.02 acres at the northwest corner of Humble Avenue and North Big Spring Street for a retail development. The commission approved the preliminary plat in February, but that approval expired and must be reinstated. Staff recommends reinstating the preliminary plat but denying the final plat. The report does not explain the denial beyond department comments. Reinstating an expired plat allows a developer to restart the approval process after the original approval expired before construction began.
• Midland ISD properties: Midland ISD wants to divide 32.162 acres of vacant land at 900 E. Gist Ave., at the southwest corner of East Gist Avenue and South Lamesa Road, into two lots for future development. The district also wants to combine two parcels into one 2.67-acre lot at the southwest corner of South N Street and West Missouri Avenue, where it operates an early childhood school. The change would consolidate the property’s boundaries. Staff recommends approving both requests.
• Mockingbird Ridge: Betenbough Homes wants final approval to divide 15.72 acres into 99 residential lots at the northwest corner of Oleander Way and Waxwing Drive. The property is the 22nd section of the Mockingbird Ridge development. In September, The Permian Press reported on another Betenbough request to divide 16 acres into 82 residential lots in Mockingbird Ridge.
• Pennsylvania Avenue right-of-way: Century Graphics and Signs wants to replat its property at the southwest corner of West Pennsylvania Avenue and South Marienfeld to finalize the city’s vacation of 0.523 acres of West Pennsylvania. Vacating a right-of-way removes the land’s designation for public street use. Staff recommends requiring the company to pay $45,563.76 for the vacated right-of-way before submitting a final plat.
• Other plats: Commissioners will hold a public hearing on combining two lots at 2001 Winfield Road into one 0.49-acre lot for a new home. They will also consider dividing and combining 7.82 acres east of Bankhead Highway and north of West Kentucky Avenue into two lots for future commercial development. Another request would plat a 1.93-acre industrial property on West Stokes Avenue outside city limits so the owner can receive Oncor electric service. Staff recommends approving all three requests.