As it turns out, it is still too early in the process for such measures. The two sides expressed a willingness to work together for a possible solution, and Belton City Manager Sam Listi is scheduled to address county commissioners about the issue during a workshop Monday morning.
The issue centers around a storage warehouse the county plans to construct near the Bell County Justice Center on Loop 121, property the county purchased from the Belton Economic Development Corp. in August 2004.
The county has an architect working on plans for the warehouse. Two weeks ago the architect met with Belton planning officials for pre-approval on a building permit and was told that before a permit is issued the plans may need to be cleared by Belton’s planning and zoning commission and city council.
“We should be going in to get a building permit,” said Tim Brown, county commissioner for Precinct 2.
County commissioners and Listi agree that the proposed building is an appropriate use according to the zoning documents.
The concern that Belton has is where the 29,750-square-foot building will be located in relation to a housing development called Liberty Valley. The housing development, east of the Justice Complex, only has a handful of houses built within it, but it is expected to eventually contain 169 homes.
“We never said it (the warehouse) wasn’t allowed,” Listi said. “We just need to evaluate how it fits with the development that is out there - and we haven’t even completed our analysis.”
Requiring the county to go through its planning and zoning commission is not unusual, Listi said, something the city would require of any other entity.
The county contends that planning documents it submitted in September 2004, when the adjacent property was zoned commercial, are sufficient. That document does not show specific plans for a building where the warehouse is planned. It only states that future development is planned in that general area.
For now plans are that the warehouse be built on the eastern edge of the county’s property within 75 feet of what in the future will be the backyards of five homes in Liberty Valley.
One of the things that upset county officials when they first learned there may be some zoning concerns was a suggestion that a 300-foot buffer zone be created between the warehouse and the future houses.
Listi said as the city analyzed this potential option it became clear that it may not be a viable solution because the property is on a slope and the farther the warehouse is moved back, the higher it would move up the slope, making it look more imposing to future residents.
Listi said the city is not trying to make the process onerous but it needs to study the issue and have the county go through a formal process to be fair to all parties that could be affected by the building.
“One of the things they have spoken about is possibly putting a fence up at the back to the property,” County Judge Jon Burrows said.
Another concern would be lighting. Without proper lighting at the warehouse, future residents could be affected negatively. Listi said the city may request that the county incorporate directional lighting into its building plans to address this concern.
Brown said this whole issue only surfaced because after the county purchased the property, Belton changed the zoning of the adjacent property. He said residential zoning does not belong next to a jail and argued that commercial zoning was more appropriate for the area.
The proximity of the jail to the future neighborhood was an issue that the Belton City Council was concerned about when it changed the zoning in October 2006. In fact, the council tabled the item initially before passing it during a meeting two weeks later.
Council members voted unanimously to rezone the area, in part, because of “market conditions” - Barnes Homebuilders was interested in the property and was ready to build on it.
Mayor Jim Covington abstained from the vote and discussions about rezoning because his wife’s company, Covington Real Estate, was involved in the sale of the property.
As the Belton council deliberated on the zoning issue, it was advised by City Attorney John Messer that any additions to the county’s master plans would have to come back for county approval.
Fred Morris, Belton’s planning director, told the council he believed a good buffer area existed between the county property and the proposed housing development. He said the county’s new phase would be reviewed in relation to what is developed to its east and would be subject to a site plan and architectural review, which is the process that is under way.
For now, the Bell County Justice Center consists of the District Courts building. In the future, the 75 acres will contain a new county jail, which is nearly complete, new county courts building and the warehouse.
The warehouse will be a multi-use building with half of its floor space reserved for storing county records and the other half split between the maintenance department and the sheriff’s office.
Maintenance will use the building to store mowers and other county equipment, while the sheriff will use its space to store evidence that has been impounded.
“It will be a nice looking building with very little traffic,” Brown said.
