Pearland City Council is in the midst of discussion about potentially renaming a section of Max Road. The item was first brought to council Jan. 28, and council had a first reading Feb. 28.

The name change is proposed so there is a continuous name for the road now that the city has recently finished expanding Max Road to meet with Reid Boulevard. The city proposed naming the road either Reid Boulevard, as Max and Reid are now connected, or Manvel Road, as the road turns into Manvel Road south of Broadway Street.

Changing the name from Max Road will affect over 30 property owners over the course of construction, as well as erase the legacy of Max Hernandez, whom the road was named after, residents said.

“I’ve been walking down Max Road speaking to the residents. … Everyone is very unhappy,” Pearland resident Manuel Lopez said. “It really is a burden that I don’t see why we have to take on.”

However, naming the whole road Max Road is not an option, as the city is extending Max Road to meet Beltway 8, which will cause the extension to run parallel to an existing Max Road in Brookside Village, city staff said.

Council Member Trent Perez proposed the city issue a resolution asking Brookside Village if it would consider renaming Max Road to Old Max Road so Pearland residents would not be affected. Council voted to table the item with the intention of seeing what agreement the city could reach with Brookside Village, if any.

Tabling the conversation also allows the city to decide what name they would choose for the road if Brookside refuses to change the name of its road. Council Member Derrick Reed is in favor of naming the road Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which the extended Max Road will connect to in Houston.

“I have a huge problem with the fact that we run Kirby all the way down, we run Cullen all the way down, whatever streets we run down from Houston, we keep that name, but for some reason we are going to change the name right here,” Reed said. “Unless we are going to keep it Reid [Boulevard] in honor of Mayor Reid, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be MLK Boulevard all the way through.