Celina Weighs a Kia Dealership on the Tollway and a Shift From Grass to Xeriscape
Thursday's Planning and Zoning meeting takes up a 10-acre dealership request and new landscape rules that would end irrigated turf at new businesses and apartments.
A Kia dealership wants to set up along the Dallas North Tollway in Celina. First, the city has to change the zoning, because car lots are not allowed there now.
The Celina Planning and Zoning Commission takes up the request at a special called meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in the council chambers at 112 N. Colorado St., according to the agenda. The commission will also consider a rewrite of the city's landscaping rules that would replace watered grass with xeriscape at new businesses and apartment complexes.
A dealership on the tollway
The Kia site is about 10 acres at the northwest and southwest corners of Dallas Parkway and Cobb Street, according to a staff memo from Principal Planner Sandra Green in the meeting packet. It sits under Planned Development No. 80, a mixed-use zoning approved in 2017 and amended in 2021 and 2023. That zoning does not allow car dealerships.
Celina allows new auto sales "by right" only in industrial districts. Elsewhere, a dealership needs a planned development or a specific use permit. The site lies in the Suburban subzone of the Dallas North Tollway Overlay, which allows dealerships through one of those two routes. The city's future land use plan shows the area reserved for a community mixed-use center.
The proposed amendment would add new auto sales, along with uses that commonly go with dealerships, to the allowed uses. The site would have to follow the concept plan and building designs the applicant submitted.
The staff presentation is frank about the trade-offs. It says dealerships "are generally not considered visually appealing land uses" and that "Celina's design standards are high." It also says dealerships provide jobs and a needed service, are common along major regional roads, and give to the community through sponsorships and donations.
The tax picture is mixed. According to the presentation, passenger vehicles do not pay local sales tax, though boats, RVs and heavy equipment do. Dealerships do pay sales tax on service parts, along with property and inventory taxes. In early summer 2025, the commission and City Council told staff that dealerships should not go in the overlay's High-Rise subzone, which this site is not in. Staff recommends approval.
A water-wise garden bed at the Dallas Arboretum, 2017. Illustrative. Photo: Michael Barera / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Less grass, more rock
The second item would rewrite Celina's landscaping and tree preservation rules. A memo from Long Range Planning Manager Melissa Kleineck says the City Council asked for three changes after xeriscape discussions this year. The first is an option for medians with no turf at all. The second extends xeriscape rules to commercial property and homeowners association common areas, and the third creates xeriscape options for single-family homes.
Under the draft, the city would not allow irrigated turf grass at new commercial and multifamily projects or in landscape buffers. Xeriscape would be required instead. Temporary irrigation would be allowed only to get turf established. In HOA open space, grass used for recreation could still be watered, but "non-functional" areas such as parkways would have to follow xeriscape standards. Trees with bubblers and shrubs on drip lines would still be required.
Homeowners would get more choice, not less. The draft drops a 30% cap on xeriscape in front yards, so builders and owners could use grass, xeriscape or any mix. Artificial turf would stay banned in yards visible from public right-of-way, excluding alleys. The rules would apply only to new projects.
The presentation notes that "xeriscape design can be costly." It says staff surveyed 306 recipients in June and received 17 responses. Staff recommends approval.
What comes next
Both recommendations go to the City Council at its regular meeting in November, according to the staff presentations. Residents who want to speak during the open forum must sign a speaker card and give it to the staff liaison before the meeting begins, and comments are limited to three minutes.
A growing town has to balance new businesses, its looks and its water. Thursday is a good chance to tell the commission where that balance should land. The full packet is on the city's meeting portal.
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