Council member Marsha Porter said Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, and state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, secured $15 million for the city for water infrastructure, which council members cited as the reason they voted against the moratorium for now.
“[Metcalf and Creighton] made it possible for us to absolutely delay this,” council member Marsha Porter said. “Now the water capacity is not going away. It’s not ever going away until we all work together to solve it and quit throwing rocks at each other.”
There is already an existing temporary development moratorium for the northern portion of the city, which was enacted last August and last extended in April.
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City Council first discussed the possibility of a citywide moratorium during its meetings in late April and held the first public hearing on the moratorium ordinance May 22, Community Impact previously reported.
Also of note
During the May 30 meeting, council members stressed that the new state funding does not alleviate water infrastructure concerns in Conroe.
“Our water capacity is a problem. Our sewer capacity is a problem, and we don’t have the kind of money to fix it,” Porter said. “We’re growing too fast. We’ve developed too much.”
Council member Harry Hardman said he believes the city is the “victims of our own success.”
“During the last two years, we had 9,000 connections. We had 150% of what we were forecasting. ... This is not going to go away,” Hardman said. “I’m committed to working with all of [the community] in the fullest extent we can, but there’s only so much we can do and we all have to understand that this is a very serious problem.”
Quotes of note
- “This is a fine example of us all working together,” Mayor Duke Coon said. “I want to thank [Public Works Director Norman McGuire] and his team for all your hard work.”
- “I think it’s fantastic news that we all received today so our heartfelt, sincere thank you to [Metcalf and Creighton] as well,” council member Howard Wood said.
If the council wants to consider a citywide moratorium again, the city would have to go through the entire legal process again, City Attorney Mike Garner said. The process includes the publication of a public notice and two public hearings, according to Texas state law, section 212.134.
