Planning panel recommends denying planned‑development request for 1304 Westport Parkway after residents warn it will become a warehouse

The Haslet Planning & Zoning Commission on Monday recommended denial, without prejudice, of a request to rezone 1304 Westport Parkway from Agriculture to Planned Development (PD), after residents and commission members said the plan appeared to be a disguised route to build a warehouse on the 11.22‑acre parcel.

Residents pressed the commission during a public hearing, saying they were told the site would be retail when they bought nearby homes and arguing the PD would not guarantee that outcome. "This is definitely going to be a warehouse," said Christine Gross, a Caroway resident. John Barnett of the Sweetgrass neighborhood warned that a PD should "provide stronger protections and a better outcome for residents, not become a different route to achieve the same industrial result that was already rejected." He noted the applicant’s concept showing 128 car stalls and 31 trailer stalls and said that pattern would increase truck traffic and erode community character.

The developer, who identified himself as Will and listed a Dallas address, said he is an industrial developer and that retail development is "outside of my expertise." Will described the proposal as a speculative, small‑format industrial/flex building that might accommodate showroom or office uses: "I don't have a tenant in mind," he said, and added that the buildings would be a "very high class A high finish" with glazing and storefronts to avoid a purely box‑like appearance. He and staff said traffic measures such as a teardrop or pork‑chop access could be used to direct trucks north toward I‑35 rather than south on Harmon Road.

Commissioners repeatedly questioned whether the PD met the city’s four PD criteria — public benefit from flexibility, mitigation of impacts, meaningful open space, and integrative design — and said the application lacked firm commitments on tenant types, truck volumes and specific design elements. One commissioner summarized the legal constraint: if a plat or application meets the code standards, the body must approve it; but several commissioners said the current PD application did not clearly present those public‑benefit tradeoffs.

Three emailed statements read into the record — from Carol Clark, Brendan Calbertt and Kitty Wartz — echoed public testimony, calling the submission a backdoor attempt to bring warehouses and urging the commission to protect Westport Parkway frontage for retail. Clark asked why the parcel was shown as 11.22 acres in the packet when it had been listed previously as 10.49 acres and wrote, "Give warehouses a pause."

After discussion the commission voted by voice to recommend denial without prejudice, meaning the applicant may revise and return with a different proposal. The motion did not record individual roll‑call votes in the public hearing record.

The commission also announced staff will convene a committee of planning and zoning, economic development and council members to revisit the master land‑use plan for the corridor before further rezoning decisions are advanced.

Action taken: the commission recommended denial, without prejudice, of the PD rezoning request for 1304 Westport Parkway. The rejection was recorded as a commission recommendation; further action by city officials or a revised application remains possible.