Wylie council directs staff to draft PDLI ordinance for Wylie Tech Park, limits data‑center and storage footprints

St. John Properties presented plans April 28 for a roughly 59.8‑acre planned development (PDLI) at 611 Sandin Boulevard and portions of FM‑544, a project the applicant called the Wylie Tech Park that would build six flex R&D/industrial buildings and retail pads along FM‑544.

The project team described the plan as a flex‑space business park intended for a mix of light industrial, small manufacturing, research/lab, limited data/server rooms, and retail frontage. The council’s planning staff said P&Z recommended approval (5‑0) with conditions and noted two mailed comments in the packet.

Why it matters: the project would add substantial square‑footage and potential daytime employment near Sandin Boulevard, but council members said they wanted to limit uses that produce limited local jobs or create heavy infrastructure impacts — specifically larger data centers and extensive mini‑storage footprints — and require additional review where those uses would materially change the development’s character.

Council and staff focused on three core issues: power and backup power for server/data facilities, traffic and access on Sandin and FM‑544, and limits on storage and automotive uses. Applicant Rafael Alterman told the council his company’s flex model does not accommodate hyperscale data centers that require new substations; he agreed to size limits, saying the product typically requires tenants to pay to upsize service if needed. In the hearing Rafael said, “The largest individual flex building on the site plan is 56,120, … and we would cap it at that number” as a negotiating point for council consideration.

Councilmembers sought additional restrictions to keep the park’s employment density high and traffic manageable. After extended Q&A with the applicant and the developer’s traffic engineer (who said the TIA recommends deceleration and dedicated turn lanes and that TxDOT review remains pending), the council settled on policy language directing staff to draft an ordinance with the council’s conditions: require protective fencing/bollards for outdoor daycare and tasting/dining areas, limit standalone vehicle service to non‑pad uses (i.e., embedded within a flex building rather than a standalone pad), require SUPs for certain pad uses (car wash, fuel) on the FM‑544 frontage, cap mini‑storage/warehouse footprints at 10,000 sq ft without an SUP, and constrain server/data‑center activity to the developer’s smallest building footprint (roughly 39,000 sq ft as described in the applicant’s site plan) rather than allowing an unbounded by‑right data‑center footprint.

Council also required staff to include removal of two PD sections (labeled M and N in staff materials) as discussed in the record. After an initial approval, the council reconsidered and then voted on the final motion directing staff to draft the ordinance with the conditions; the motion passed 6‑1 (Mayor Pro Tem Juno Malice opposed).

What’s next: staff will write the PD ordinance incorporating the agreed conditions and return it as a regular agenda item for final council action. Councilmembers asked specifically that staff circulate the full traffic impact analysis to council before the ordinance return.

Quotes: “We would cap it at that number,” Rafael Alterman said when asked how the developer would limit potential data‑center use. Mayor Matthew Porter and multiple councilmembers pressed the developer on generator fuel storage, parking and traffic circulation, and protections for outdoor play and tasting areas.

Context: The PD application is intended to allow a broader, clarified set of light‑industrial and flex uses than classic LI zoning on the site and was presented as a partnership to bring jobs and daytime activity to the Sandin/FM‑544 corridor. Staff and the developer stressed the PD includes site‑plan controls and SUP requirements to manage uses that concern council.