City Council of the City of Alice on Feb. 6 approved rezoning and related land-use actions to allow construction of a new Alice Memorial Stadium, and granted variance requests from Alice Independent School District for parking and restroom fixtures.

The council voted to rezone the property that contains Alice Memorial Stadium to a newly adopted LSR‑1 (Large‑Scale Recreational) zoning classification, approved a final plat consolidating multiple deeds into a single 14.112‑acre parcel, and approved variances on parking and water‑closet counts submitted by Alice ISD. Wayland, the city’s director of engineering, presented the items and said the LSR‑1 designation “allows for the accommodation of large scale recreation” by enabling variances and a Planning & Zoning (P&Z) review process for stadium‑scale elements the city’s standard zoning does not address.

Why this matters: the council’s votes clear key land‑use and infrastructure questions that the school district said are needed to move forward with the stadium design and construction. The approvals determine how many parking spaces will be expected onsite, how many restroom fixtures the stadium must provide under local adoption of the 2012 International Plumbing Code, and how the multiple property deeds will be combined for permitting and development.

Wayland told council that the school district initially asked to reduce the draft parking requirement from about 1,500 spaces to “around a thousand,” and that the ISD’s letter stated it had access to 1,378 spaces in the surrounding area. He said P&Z and staff used that availability and recommended a parking determination of 1,378 spaces. On restroom fixtures, Wayland explained the code math the city uses: “Under the 6,000 occupancy load of the proposed stadium … there was gonna be 96 water closets required” under the 2012 International Plumbing Code. He said the P&Z recommendation and the engineering department’s recommendation was a 30 percent reduction based on occupancy, which “puts us at 70 water closets.” Wayland also said the ISD indicated it could install about 86 water closets.

Council members asked procedural and detail questions during the public hearing period; no members of the public spoke on the item during the hearing. The public hearing opened at 3:27 p.m. and closed with no public testimony. Council then moved, seconded and approved each item by voice vote; no roll‑call tallies were recorded in the meeting minutes.

Supporting details and next steps: the final plat consolidates several separate deeds covering the stadium footprint into a single mapped parcel to facilitate permitting. Wayland told council additional recommendations on variances and specific development standards would return to council on a subsequent agenda. The P&Z committee had recommended approval of the rezoning, plat and the 30 percent water‑closet reduction; city engineering likewise recommended approval on all three items.

The approvals remove immediate zoning barriers to the stadium project, but final site plan approval, building permits, and any construction funding still must be secured before work begins.