Four neighborhoods’ direct annexations were set in motion by the Conroe City Council on Thursday night in a series of votes that also removed four neighborhoods from the three-year annexation plan.

Roman Hills, the Judy Campbell Tract, Horton-Barton Woods and the Maxedon Property were unanimously voted on to begin the annexation process.

“[The vote] directs staff to move forward with annexations ... it starts the process,” said Nancy Mikeska, city of Conroe director of community development, at the Sept. 12 workshop.

Next, there will be several public hearings within the communities planned for annexation followed by a final council vote scheduled for December.

Roman Hills is 1,386 acres with a population of 11 and four residential homes, Mikeska said. Barton Woods is 6.7 acres.

The city bought the Judy Campbell lot from the Campbell family and plans to officially expand into the parcel it already owns, and the Maxedon property is owned by Cameron Maxedon, who requested to be annexed by petition, she said.

Approved removals included Lakewood Estates, Lake Conroe village, Riverbook-Forest Hills and Carriage Hills, after public comment from Carriage Hills resident Bob Murphy.

“If we’re annexed ... we’re going to lose our fire department. That and our insurance will go up,” Murphy said in the public comment period. “Some of us have our own water ... I have my own well. Our trash services will change. Most of us are on fixed incomes and don’t want another tax in which they receive nothing in return. I don’t see a benefit to that.”

Carriage Hills, the 964-acre, 642-rooftop neighborhood, has no businesses and a population of 1,830. It would link Conroe to the Jacobs Reserve neighborhood. Mikeska said it was put in the long-term plan because Conroe already had a strategic partnership in place with Jacobs Reserve.

“We have four [parcels] that were placed in the three-year plan in December 2017,” Mikeska said at the workshop. “The three-year plan meant when we place subdivisions or developments in it, it is done so because Texas government code says if it is over 100 rooftops, it goes into the three-year plan rather than the direct annexations we just talked about.”

The 225-acre Lakewood Estates, population 681, has 234 rooftops and 13 businesses. The reason it was put into the three-year annexation plan was to extend Conroe’s western boundary to connect with the parcels the city already owns, Mikeska said.

Lake Conroe Village, at 140 acres and 325 rooftops, has a population of 926 and six businesses. Sitting in the doughnut hole of parcels annexed in 2017, Mikeska said the city was looking at filling it in because it is already providing fire service there.

“We’re at the point of annexation where we have to begin the public hearing in those neighborhoods and spend funds to move forward,” Mikeska said. “It’s a lot of time of yours and staff with neighbors if we are sincere about annexing these in 2020. If you vote to remove them, just the way it went into the plan, it would come out of the plan.”

At population 964, Riverbrook-Forest Hills has 202 rooftops and 10 businesses. It was heavily hit by Hurricane Harvey, and the city had intended to link to SH 242 because it already spent money on sewer lines there, Mikeska said.

“We appreciate their concerns and hope sooner or later they’ll change their heart and decide they want to be a member of this beautiful city of Conroe,” Mayor Toby Powell said.

Read the full agenda here.