South Africa’s Zoning Commission to consider industrial zoning proposal near Toyota plant

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Zoning Commission is expected to vote on a controversial two-mile buffer zone around the Toyota manufacturing plant at a meeting Tuesday.

You can follow the meeting live, which starts at 6 p.m., in the video player for this article.

The proposed “Industrial Compatibility Overlay District” (ICOD) would be the first of its kind in the city and would severely limit commercial and residential development around one of the city’s largest manufacturers.

While people would be able to stay in their current homes, construction of new homes would generally not be allowed — with some exceptions.

Instead, the area within a mile of the Toyota plant would be used for industrial purposes, and the area between one and two miles would be used for commercial or industrial development.

The new zone would cover nearly 31 square miles and 2,843 individual properties, most currently zoned for residential use.

“We believe that residential is not appropriate in a growing industrial neighborhood, so the goal of the industrial compatibility district is to ensure that we don’t have land use conflicts,” Rudy Niño, deputy planning director, said in an interview with KSAT earlier this month.

But the proposal has created a conflict of its own, drawing a frustrated crowd to the May 21 zoning commission meeting. About two dozen speakers expressed concerns about how the change could impact their property values, how they could continue to use their land and what they see as a favor the city is doing to a big corporation.

Zoning commissioners deferred a decision on the new overlay district until their meeting Tuesday.

Even if the ICOD proposal receives support from zoning commissioners, it will still need to be approved by the San Antonio City Council.