About 580 acres of land were unanimously incorporated into municipal utility districts at the Conroe City Council meeting Nov. 8, mostly by request of local property developers planning subdivisions. Councilmember Seth Gibson was absent.
MUD 138, already in existence at 213 acres near the south city of Conroe water tower, requested 248 acres to be incorporated into it, as part of Cantera builder’s plan to develop the area.
“Why this is important to you is ... this is part of the [Roman Hills] annexation we’re going to be talking about at the next two council meetings and the one in December,” City of Conroe Director of Community Development Nancy Mikeska said at the Nov. 7 workshop. “It’s more beneficial for them to put it into an existing district rather than create a very small district and have a separate district.”
City attorney Marc Winberry said the city needs to amend the utility agreement, because although the land is currently fairly open, a big development is planned.
“We of course don’t have water and sewer facilities available they can directly connect into, although we do have a plan for that to occur over a period of time,” Winberry said at the workshop. “The developer has acquired a private water system he intends to use to provide service sufficiently to support what they think will be the early phases of development, and hopefully by the time their development needs services beyond what can be provided through that, we’ll be in a position to take over.”
MUD 149 was created newly as a 61-acre in-city district for upcoming subdivision Chapel Run. It is located along Hwy. 105 west and Tejas Boulevard near the city’s western border.
MUDs 150 and 151 were both established as out-of-city extraterritorial jurisdictions.
MUD 151, 144 acres, is located off FM 1097 and Long Street in the city’s northern ETJ, where Woodlands-based Signorelli development company plans to build Ravella Sound near Willis High School. MUD 150, 127 acres, is located off Highway 105 west near Club Drive in the city’s western ETJ, where Signorelli plans to build a subdivision named Montgomery Bridge.
“This [MUD 150] is also a small portion of the Roman Hills annexation tract we’re going to discuss,” Mikeska said at the workshop. “It’s also unique because a portion of this was in the Montgomery ETJ, a portion was in Conroe’s ETJ, and Montgomery has chosen to opt out of their ETJ, so now this all going to be in Conroe’s ETJ.”
Houston-based lawyer David Oliver, representing Signorelli, said for legal reasons a subdivision project cannot exist in both ETJs. Signorelli is the developer in MUD 149, 150 and 151.
“We approached Montgomery to see what their position was, but their reality is they have so many things going on they didn’t feel like they could have a long-term plan to take care of this land,” Oliver said at the workshop. “The developer recommended electing Conroe’s ETJ because we’ve been able to work on a long-term plan with Conroe.”
In the future, MUD 150 is considering entering into a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with Conroe, setting up annexation later on.
“We appreciate you selecting Conroe [ETJs],” said Conroe Mayor Toby Powell at the workshop.
In other news Thursday, the council:
- Discussed the proposed service plans for the 2018 Direct Annexation Parcels, which are Roman Hills, Conroe Industrial Park, Barton Woods area and the Maxedon Property.
- Unanimously reduced the minimum lot size allowed in subdivisions from 50 to 40 feet in width, with a depth of 100 feet for a minimum total area of 4,400 square foot lots, down from 5,000. The ordinance does not change the required minimum 10-foot setback between buildings, nor require developers to build small lots.