The Levelland Planning and Zoning Commission held their regular meeting Tuesday, December 13 to cover a light but varied agenda including carports, rezoning, as well as food truck vendor fees.
Something that’s been plaguing the commission for the past several months has been the introduction of a carport ordinance.
Levelland’s zoning code hasn’t been thoroughly inspected or updated since the 1980’s, according to staff. The Commission decided to take an in-depth look to bring the city into the 21st century.
With the best of intentions, they opened the discussion up to the citizens, holding town hall meetings on the various topics, but one that drew quite a bit of ire was carport regulations.
Eventually after many town hall meetings and deliberations, it was decided that an ordinance would pass for most zones, but more work is needed to be done before passing it for Single Family 1 (SF-1) zones.
This meeting saw an end to this saga with the introduction of Single Family-1, Carport Allowed zones (SF-1CA), which will be implemented in subdivisions where carports already exist.
Currently these zones will be in the Crestview and Capital Terrace, Kauffman addition, Cherry, Colonial, Lea & Brown, Breshears, and College Heights, as well as Western Meadows.
On the topic of re-zoning, a slight issue was brought to the commission’s attention regarding the property at 211 Clubview Drive.
It currently resides in a SF-2 zone, which does not allow for commercial businesses to exist.
However, it was previously utilized by 211 Coffee, a small coffee shop.
With potential buyers looking at the property, the city thought it wise to re-zone this particular property to Business 2(B-2) to allow for the continuation of a commercial business upon the lot. This was voted upon and passed unanimously by the commission. Also reviewed at this meeting was the rough draft of a food truck ordinance that has been in the works for the city.
Review of current fees and regulations revealed the city was out of touch with its surrounding communities on the topic of mobile food trucks, and to catch up, as well as keep the city safe, an ordinance was drafted by City Attorney Matt Wade which would cover fee scheduling and other topics related to the businesses.
The proposed fee schedule would be as follows: $250 for an annual pass, an increase from $75. A $30 fee for special event day passes such as Early Settlers Day or Cotton and Crude, and only $10 for children’s events such as Lemonade Day.
Fire suppression system requirements for mobile kitchens were discussed as well. City of Levelland Chief Building Inspector Joe Shedd stated that was required by fire code.
The rough draft was tweaked slightly with changes of verbiage, then sent back to City Attorney Matt Wade for further development, bringing an end to the commission’s agenda.