by N. Bradford
Local Pearland projects up for various needed city approvals on Nov. 13 include expanding a Montessori school in Old Town, a new barber college on Country Place Parkway, and a restaurant at Main Street and Drier Road.
Pearland Planning and Zoning commissioners on Oct. 16 voted to recommend a deviation from the Old Town District rules to allow a local Montessori school to add a gymnasium building at 2319 North Grand Blvd. — so long as a building set to be razed to make room for the new building is not deemed to be historical.
Old Town requires non-residential properties that face a public street or plaza to be at least 15 percent transparent and 25 percent of the ground floor facade wall as storefront windows.
Plans for the new gymnasium building call for large windows, but at a 12-foot height from ground level, city staff said.
The school lies on property once occupied by Pearland High School in 1937 and later used by Alvin Community College until 2016. Horizon Montessori located there in 2018, making improvements to existing buildings.
P&Z also recommended approval for replat combining three lots into one at 2802 Broadway St., with Commissioner Brandon Dansby recusing, and a conditional use permit to open a barber school at 1801 Country Place Parkway.
Also recommended was a conditional use permit for a restaurant within a light industrial district at Main Street and Drier Road. The 2,052-square-foot restaurant would have a drive-thru with landscaping fronting Main Street. Annexed into the city in 1959, the site was previously used for parking for a nearby manufacturing plant that has since been demolished.
Pearland City Council is expected to consider approval of these requests at its Nov. 13 meeting.
The next P&Z meeting is set for Nov. 6.
