A developer that wants to put a warehouse business park on Denton's far east side needs the City Council to rezone a 3.76-acre lot on US 380, and the council holds a public hearing on the request Tuesday night.
The property sits on the south side of East University Drive, about 1,568 feet east of North Trinity Road. It is zoned Residential 2 today, which does not allow warehouse or commercial uses, so Eagle Build LLC has asked for Light Industrial zoning.
Its project narrative gives the address as 5120 E. University Drive and says a house and another structure on the land would be torn down.
What the developer has in mind
Eagle Build's plan, described in its filing as preliminary, calls for industrial flex units on the part of the site inside the city and office-warehouse space on land it owns directly to the south, which lies in the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction. The narrative lists possible tenants such as contractors, sports training businesses, home improvement companies, online retailers, equipment storage and service firms, and trade services.
A new driveway onto University Drive would line up with Riverside Drive.
City staff note that the land south of the lot is now used for aggregate sales and outdoor storage, and its only driveway to US 380 crosses the lot up for rezoning.
City rules require a use's main driveway to pass only through land zoned for that use, so while the lot stays residential the southern operation has no incentive to make changes that could cost it its grandfathered access, staff wrote.
Staff added that the rezoning could encourage the owner to replace that operation with a lower-impact use, while noting the city has no zoning authority over the land in the ETJ.
Staff also cautioned that if the change is approved, any use allowed in the Light Industrial district could eventually be built on the site, not only the warehouses described now.
