Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.

In a rare move, New Braunfels City Council members on Monday approved the first reading of a rezoning and special use permit request for a planned business expansion at a Gruene coffee establishment after an initial vote failed to pass the item. Council members rescinded that result, then voted to pass the measure, sending it to a second reading next month.

The rezoning from residential to commercial with a special use permit that would allow for the addition of coffee roasting and related warehousing at Gruene Coffee Haus at 1720 Hunter Road in Gruene required a supermajority of approval votes from council members — six votes out of seven members — to pass the item, as the city received opposition declarations from landowners representing more than 20% of the properties within 200 feet of the subject property.

However, Mayor Rusty Brockman’s absence from the meeting meant that all six members remaining had to vote in approval for the item to pass.

After a lengthy public hearing and discussion, council members initially voted 5-1, with the item failing to reach the required six votes. Council member Lawrence Spradley cast the sole vote in opposition to the measure.

After a break and deliberations on separate items, Spradley requested the council rescind the vote results of the coffee house measure. After consultation with City Attorney Valeria Acevedo, council members voted 6-0, rescinding the initial result, then after more deliberation, voted 6-0, approving the item.

Spradley explained his request to revisit the item.

“The reason why is because there was a petition going around — 149 people or whatever it was, I had to recognize that,” he said. “But I’m not sure that the petition was legal or vetted.”

The request to rezone the .85-acre tract now requires a second reading and vote, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 10.

During the initial deliberations and discussion, Kelly Hall, manager of Gruene Coffee Haus, told council members that the proposed plan includes constructing a 3,500 square-foot, single-story metal building to enclose the warehousing and coffee roasting uses.

“The goal of every small business is to grow and efficiently meet demand,” Hall told council members. “Right now, the only things holding back our team of 10 incredibly driven and creative women from reaching our goals are the literal walls of our current location. As a small business owner, I obviously have hopes and dreams. That’s why I’m here.”

She added that the team “is desperate for more space and a larger roaster. A new building added as an extension of our existing business would allow us to meet demand and offer more career opportunities for local women and a business I can eventually pass on to my daughter.”

The proposed plan calls for the usage of a maximum of two roasters on the site, a 5-kilo roaster currently in use and a new 35-kilo roaster that Hall said could roast 270 to 300 pounds of coffee beans per hour. She told council members that the new roaster would be equipped with the latest technology to block emissions leaving the roaster during the roasting process.

She added that the business also uses a 12-kilo roaster off-site.

Hall said that during an average month, the shop sells about 600 to 800 bags of retail coffee and manufactures about 400 pounds of coffee for beverages. She added that a 35-kilo roaster could roast 1,200 pounds of coffee beans needed to serve customers per month in about 4.5 hours compared to the 30 hours required to roast the same amount of coffee in a 5-kilo roaster. 

The requested special use permit to allow coffee roasting with related warehousing is necessary because those uses are not allowed in the “C-1A” zoning category.

But approval of the first reading of the measure by council members came amid significant opposition from neighbors, who cited concerns ranging from the potential of increased traffic in an area that already sees a considerable amount of tourists and visitors to the noise generated by heavy vehicles and byproducts such as smoke or a burnt popcorn-like odor that could emanate from the facility.

“I do not want to limit Miss Hall’s business success,” said neighbor Brett Davis. “I’m simply asking that she locate this industrial facility in a manufacturing zone in New Braunfels. It seems reasonable. I have heard no valid reason from Miss Hall for placing this facility in Gruene. She’s been roasting off-premise for years and her business is thriving. Placing the coffee roasting production operation of her business in an area that’s designated for it indicates no adverse impact on her business.”

Davis added that placing the facility in Gruene is “a short-sighted solution with very long-term consequences for those of us who actually live in New Braunfels.”

In response to concerns regarding food processing activities and associated state licensing requirements, city staffers conducted additional research on the state’s food processing permits and discovered that any business that prepares and packages food or drink products to be sold in individual containers to the public must have a state food processing permit. 

Currently there are about 125 food processing permits for existing businesses operating all over the city, including Gruene. They include: every store that sells bagged ice or bottled water on the premises; any restaurant, bakery, gift shop, grocery store, or meat market that bottles, packages and sells edible or drinkable goods to the public; and a home occupation packaging seasonings.

If approved by council members during the second reading, the special use permit would come with a number of requirements, which include the number of times oversized vehicles could access the building each week and the type of exhaust system needed to reduce or eliminate smoke and smells emitted from the establishment to reduce possible disturbances to nearby residents.

The permit would also dictate that coffee roasting within the facility could only take place between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. and that the facility may not be used for any other type of manufacturing or production or used to store products, materials, machinery or tools unrelated to the coffee shop or coffee roasting use.

The item would again require a supermajority of votes from council members to pass the item during the second reading.

In other action from Monday’s meeting, council members:

• Approved the first reading a proposed rezoning from “R-2” Single and Two-Family District to “C-1A” Neighborhood Commercial District at 257 E. South Street.

• Took no action on the first reading of an ordinance reducing the speed limit within the Park Ridge Estates subdivision. The item died for lack of a motion.

• Took no action for lack of a motion on the first reading of an ordinance amendment creating a loading zone on Jester Ridge near Flintshire Drive. The item died for lack of a motion.

• Approved the first reading of a proposed rezoning from “APD” Agricultural Predevelopment District to “MU-A” Mixed Use Low-Intensity District at 409 Franks Road.

• Approved the first reading of a proposed rezoning from “M-1” Light Industrial District to “R-2A” Single-Family and Two-Family District at 1039 Seidel Street.

• Approved the second reading of an ordinance amendment providing an application process for the establishment and use of a privately operated cemetery within the city.

• Voted 5-1, with Council Member Jason Hurta opposing, to deny a proposed rezoning from “M-1” Light Industrial District to “C-O” Commercial Office District with a special use permit to allow short-term rental of a residence at 1031 Seidel St.

• Approved the first reading of a proposed rezoning to apply a special use permit to allow short-term rental of a residence at 220 Perryman Street.

• Approved a budget amendment within the fiscal year 2022 Airport and Golf Fund.

• Approved an expenditure of up to $150,000 for the acquisition of the necessary right-of-way from two parcels of land along Goodwin Lane between Farm-to-Market Road 306 and Conrads Road between Goodwin Lane and I-35 as part of the Goodwin/Conrads Roadway Improvements Project.

• Approved and authorized the city manager to execute a lease agreement with the Alamo Colleges District for a 27,454 square foot building on the Central Texas Technology Center Campus at 2189 FM 758, Building B on New Braunfels National Airport property.

• Approved a $2.9 million purchase with Siddons-Martin Emergency Group LLC for the purchase of three squad rescue trucks and one ladder truck for the New Braunfels Fire Department and purchase with Rush Truck Center for one ambulance remount.

• Approved a contract amendment for third-party development process services by reassigning the contract from Masterplan to Milrose Consultants.

• Approved the $1.27 million purchase of vehicles and equipment from BlueBonnet Motors, Inc., Chastang Autocar, John Deere, Holt CAT, and Total Patcher and declared the replaced units as surplus.

• Postponed action on the second and final reading of an ordinance amendment establishing a no parking zone on the east side of North Academy Avenue between both intersections with Springs Nursery.

• Approved the second and final reading of an ordinance amendment revising citation no parking zones to be tow-away zones.

• Approval the second and final reading of an ordinance setting the speed limit on Morningside Drive between Schmidt Avenue and Solms Road.

• Approved the second and final reading of an ordinance setting the speed limit at 35 mph on Alves Lane between State Highway 46 and Barbarosa Road.

• Approved the second reading of an ordinance establishing the number of positions at the New Braunfels Fire Department at 146 and the Police Department at 154.

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