The new agreement is through Dec. 31, 2023, which is the same date The Woodlands Waterway ownership will transition from the developer—which is a Howard Hughes Corp. company—to the township, said attorney Bret Strong in the meeting video available on the township website.
“This was intended to allow for ongoing services in the township including things like landscape maintenance, amenities that were being built by both the developer and the township, among other items,” Strong said.
Under the agreement, streetscape services will become 100% the responsibility of the township, whereas it was previously shared between the developer and the township, he said.
It also provides another four years of the township and the developer splitting funding for agreed-upon capital projects at $4 million per year, Strong said.
Early year committed projects include improvements to connect pathways throughout the township and to improve parking and lighting in several areas, board of directors Chairperson Gordy Bunch said in the meeting video.
"We have some completion of parks and pathways, [and] we have the Spring Creek Greenway recreational corridor that we have been talking about for several years to connect to the 40-mile corridor along Spring Creek," Bunch said, listing several upcoming projects.
Strong said the new agreement also provides four parcels of land to the township, totaling 44 acres: a boathouse on Lake Robbins as well as parcels on Ashlane Way, Gosling Road and behind Bear Branch Park.
Additionally, the agreement will reinstate appointments of three development standards committee members from Howard Hughes Corp., replacing three residents selected for the committee Dec. 5 in the event the agreement was not renewed.
The township also agreed to maintain the streetscape in its Town Center district with a $300,000 annual contribution from the development company. Town Center includes an area from I-45 to Hughes Landing on the north, and on the Woodland Parkway on the south, Strong said.
The agreements were unanimously approved by the board and are effective Jan. 1, 2020.
