The Balch Springs Planning and Zoning Commission voted to table consideration of rezoning application 01/2025 and comprehensive plan amendment 002-2025 by Sam Hassan, doing business as 3814 South Beltline LLC, for roughly 8.3102 acres at 3814 and 3734 South Beltline Road during its Oct. 2 meeting. Staff said the planned development ordinance language is still under staff and legal review and asked the commission to delay action.

The issue mattered because the application would change the parcels from local retail (LR) to a planned development to allow a vertical mixed-use project combining ground-floor retail with residential condominiums above and detached townhomes on the site. The developer’s concept would be the city’s first mixed-use vertical development, and staff told commissioners the project would include public improvements and developer contributions intended to mitigate local impacts.

Staff presenting the briefing said the application seeks a comprehensive plan amendment (current future use: medium-density residential) and rezoning to a planned development so the site could include retail on the ground floor and residential above. The conceptual plan shown to the commission described about 64 total homes: roughly 50 detached townhomes (described in the packet as detached single-family townhomes) and 14 condominiums above the retail. Buildings along Beltline were presented as three- to four-story structures with two-car garages and four different elevation styles proposed to avoid monotony, and the retail component was framed as neighborhood-serving uses such as a coffee shop, salon, small grocery, dry cleaner, medical or professional offices and boutique retail.

Staff said the development would include a fenced on-site detention pond, a six-foot masonry screening wall along the southern boundary adjacent to existing single-family homes, and internal sidewalks plus required sidewalks along Beltline and Spring Oaks Drive (none currently exist). Per the project’s traffic impact analysis (TIA) the developer would be required to install a left-turn lane and a 60-foot median opening on Beltline Road to accommodate access to the retail component; staff also noted a traffic signal at Mercury and Beltline is already in the works near the site. The presentation estimated the retail component could generate about 50 to 55 jobs.

As part of a development agreement described to the commission, the applicant agreed to a $50,000 contribution for tree mitigation and an additional $15,000 for frontage improvements along Spring Oaks Drive. Staff identified water and sewer availability and said nearby elementary, middle and high schools could accommodate any student impacts; no enrollment numbers were cited.

Staff told the commission it was requesting the item be tabled while staff and the city attorney finalize planned development ordinance language and resolve outstanding deviations with the applicant. "We are requesting that this item be tabled," the staff presenter said. The commission opened the public hearing as required; no members of the public came forward and the public hearing was closed.

Commissioner Gardner moved to table the item and Commissioner Carroll seconded. The motion passed by unanimous vote, and the matter will return to the commission once staff and legal review of the planned development ordinance and deviations is complete. The staff presenter noted he would accept written or later questions from commissioners and follow up when the item returns.

No formal approvals, denials or conditions were adopted at the Oct. 2 meeting. The commission’s action formally preserves the applicant’s ability to return with a revised ordinance and plan for final consideration after outstanding legal and technical issues are resolved.