Aubrey will have a new ordinance regarding open storage throughout the incorporated city.
Mayor Chris Rich broke the tie, with Jeff Perry and Michael Browning voting in favor and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Fikes and Matt Jones against at the Aubrey City Council meeting on May 22.
'The wording that was added to the end of the ordinance was that … it would be allowed for the open storage to be on the property so long as it was behind the main building on the property,' Code Compliance Officer Daniel Salazar said. 'So, if it was a vacant lot, open storage would not be allowed.'
The change was to attempt a compromise between the original proposal, which would have banned all open storage, and the existing unmitigated open storage throughout the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Perry clarified that the open storage can be visible from the front of the property so long as it is behind the building line, which Salazar confirmed.
Salazar also clarified that items deemed a public nuisance or a threat to health and safety would not be allowed to be stored in the open, even if it were behind that line.
Resident William Cherry, who had spoken against the original proposal in April, said he was grateful for the revision.
'I wanted to thank you all for taking my comments into account,' he said. 'I think this version is much better; I'm not as opposed to it. I would have preferred that we also include the side yard.'
His concern both in April and May was for the homes in the older section of Aubrey that do not have large garages or other outdoor closed-storage solutions.
'In older neighborhoods like mine, where there don't tend to be privacy fences or garages, it's more of a burden,' Cherry said.
Also in the meeting, the council voted 3-2, with Rich again breaking the tie, to change the zoning for tobacco shops to have a conditional use permit in industrial zones of the city at least 1,000 feet from any public, private or parochial school and from any other tobacco shop.
Perry and Fikes opposed the ordinance.
The council also approved a development project by the Aubrey Municipal Development District of purchasing 407 S. Main St. for $350,000 and to issue a publication of notice of intent to issue certificates of obligation totaling $71.5 million.
The council selected Parkhill out of 17 submissions for architectural services for a future municipal building.
Also at the meeting, the council voted to take these actions:
•Table the Specific Use Permit for alcoholic beverage sales for the Chaparral Center, a proposed 7-Eleven station at the corner of FM 428 and Spring Hill Road;
•Approve the preliminary and final plats for the Highpointe Ranch East Phase 1 development, which will have 192 residential lots and three HOA lots;
•Approve the preliminary and final plats for the Palomino development for 300 residential lots, a lift station lot, five HOA lots, one city park lot, one general retail lot and one citydedicated general retail lot;
•Approve the site plan and replat for the Shops at High Meadows;
•Changed the zoning to conditional use permits for the sale of specific kinds of alcohol sales in some zoning districts and to specific use permits in other zoning districts.
