In March, the Westwood Magnolia Parkway Improvement District will begin construction on extending Research Forest Drive, the first project funded through a sales tax increase implemented in April 2011.
In November 2010, voters within the district voted to add a 2 percent sales-and-use-tax for commercial businesses in its boundaries, which have a Magnolia address but are in Conroe's extraterritorial jurisdiction. In November 2011, WMPID's board of directors finalized negotiations with Conroe to receive 1 percent of the increase, which is in addition to the 6.25 percent sales tax collected by the state.
Since April, the district has received $1.02 million in revenue to go toward its capital improvement projects.
"The idea is to get the first project going and people will see how [the revenue] benefits the whole area, not just the businesses," said Tom Grayson, improvement district board member.
While there was initial confusion that the board was increasing property tax, the improvements will be solely funded by sales tax collected from businesses in the FM 1488 and FM 2978 area, including the Kroger Shopping Center on FM 1488 and the Westwood Shopping Center on FM 2978.
The board hopes to attract additional businesses to the area to bring in dollars to be spent on future improvement projects.
Research Forest Drive
The first WMPID project involves the extension of Research Forest Drive. The project scope includes building a new two-lane road where Research Forest ends at Branch Crossing Drive to connect with Egypt Lane.
Once started, the construction is expected to take six months, according to Michael Rusk with LJA Engineering.
Rusk said he expects the extension to go quickly because its a new road and there will not be existing traffic to deal with. The other major component of the project is putting in a traffic signal at Egypt Lane once the extension is completed, which Rusk said will be the most time consuming portion of the project.
County sheriff substation
The next project the WMPID is moving forward with is providing funding to Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Gage's office to staff a clerk at the District 2 substation, which is located at the intersection of FM 1488 and FM 2978.
While the station has part-time staff on patrol, the additional funding would allow them to employ a full-time office clerk, according to Gage.
"It will certainly improve visibility of patrol vehicles coming in and out of the station," Gage said.
Grayson said seeing police cars in the area is encouraging for businesses looking to come to the area.
After getting approval from Montgomery County Commissioners Court, Gage said he expects to start the hiring process in less than a month.
"We're excited about it. It's going to work very well," Gage said. "We certainly appreciate the improvement district, because we didn't have money in the budget for the clerk. It's going to help our citizens there."
