Abilene, Texas · Taylor County
Commercial concrete is mostly about loads and paperwork. The loads are delivery trucks, trash trucks and a few hundred cars a day. The paperwork is the City's paving rules, the approach permit and, for anything open to the public, the Texas Accessibility Standards. Abilene Concrete Builders pours parking lots, drive lanes, approaches, dumpster pads and site flatwork for retail, office, church, multifamily and light industrial properties in Abilene.
The City's off-street parking rules require every parking area at a non-residential or multifamily property, along with its maneuvering areas and driveway access, to be pavement, concrete or a similar material, arranged and marked for safe loading, unloading and parking. Gravel lots that worked for a house don't meet that standard.
We thicken the drive lanes, the trash truck path and the delivery route, and keep thinner sections for car stalls. Joint layout, slope to the inlets and curb lines get set before the first truck arrives.
Abilene charges commercial parcels a stormwater fee of $0.000832 per square foot of hard surface per month, with a $7.50 minimum for parcels of 9,088 square feet or less and a $73 maximum at 90,808 square feet or more. A parcel with 20,000 square feet of roof and paving, for example, would pay about $16.64 a month at the current rate.
The City asks that anyone planning a commercial approach check with Public Works Design Services before requesting the permit, because some locations have special rules about whether an approach is allowed at all. The off-street parking rules add that driveways must meet Public Works requirements and get an Approach Permit before construction.
The City's Design Standards sheet DS-5 shows a commercial approach usually 24 feet wide and no more than 36 feet, with 15-foot radii, at least 6 inches of Class "A" reinforced concrete at a minimum of 3,500 psi, and a slope no steeper than 12 to 1. The contractor has to carry a continuous gutter grade across the new drive, matching the street, and backfill the form areas and patch any damaged street surface with approved asphalt.
Abilene's building code amendments point accessibility to the Texas Accessibility Standards. TDLR says projects with an estimated cost under $50,000 don't have to be registered for review but still have to comply with TAS, and projects of $50,000 or more must submit construction documents for registration and review. We build ramps, curb ramps and accessible routes to the slopes and dimensions on the approved plans.
A loaded trash truck sets its front wheels and the dumpster down on the same few square feet every week, which is why dumpster pads break first. We pour them thick and heavily reinforced, and add an apron so the truck's front wheels land on concrete. The City's stormwater program lists poorly kept dumpster and loading dock areas among the common water-quality problems at businesses, and reminds owners that Abilene's storm drains discharge straight to waterways without filtration or treatment. A pad sloped to drain, with a covered dumpster on it, helps keep that runoff clean.
Sidewalks between buildings, equipment pads, plazas and curb and gutter tie a site together. For walks at apartment communities, our sidewalks and walkways page covers the City's multifamily walkway rule. For worn-out lots and broken sections, see concrete repair and replacement.
Send the site address, plans if you have them, and your schedule. Call (325) 728-4111 anytime, or use the quote form and choose "Commercial Concrete."
Prefer to talk? Call (325) 728-4111 anytime.
See every service we offer at Abilene Concrete Builders.
