How we got here
During the town hall, which was held at Community Fieldhouse in Spring, Wheeler gave a presentation to residents regarding how the extension was identified as a potential project for the $480 million road bond being sought for voter approval by the county on May 3. As part of the project list for Precinct 3, a project to extend Townsen Boulevard from Lexington Boulevard to Rayford Road in Spring was included, which would connect the roadway to two major thoroughfares: Rayford Road and the Grand Parkway.
Wheeler said the purpose of the Townsen Boulevard extension was to provide an additional route for traffic off of Rayford Road as a new 5,500-acre development by RYKO in the Benders Landing area is potentially nearing construction. Wheeler said the developer would also build its own portion of Townsen Boulevard connecting to Rayford Road as part of a $27 million Chapter 381 agreement that was signed in 2018 and extended in 2024 between RYKO Development and previous Precinct 3 commissioner James Noack.
Residents at the town hall meeting said they were primarily concerned with how the county could work with the developer to potentially stall the development in its entirety due to additional impacts on traffic, flooding, drainage and green space conservation.
Diving in deeper
Under the initial agreement with the county in 2018, RYKO was required to construct a new segment of Townsen Boulevard starting at Rayford Road and ending with a bridge over Spring Creek connecting to I-69 in exchange for reimbursement of the road construction costs from property tax revenue by the county. The agreement was then amended by Noack in October to extend the agreement until 2030 and removed the clause which required a bridge to run over Spring Creek, making Rayford Road the main access point for the development.
"It's really hard to tell somebody that owns a piece of property what they can and can't do on it, especially in an unincorporated part of the county," Wheeler said. "The problem is [RYKO Development has] a contract that was signed by Noack that pays them back $27 million to build that road."
Wheeler said he has worked with Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey's Office as well as the Harris County Flood Control District to see if there was a possibility to outright purchase the land from RYKO Development in order to preserve the area around Spring Creek, but said the developers remain unwilling to sell the property.
"We were looking for a grant from the federal government, we were trying to scrape up as much money as we could to try to buy that property, and it's just not in the cards," Wheeler said. "There's no way we can put together that much money to buy that property."
The action taken
Following two hours of debate, Wheeler requested a hand vote of all those in attendance to decide whether to remove the Townsen Boulevard extension project from the Precinct 3 bond project list. During the vote, 47 residents requested the project be removed while only 18 wished to keep the project as is, leading Wheeler to tell residents he would not allocate any bond funds towards Townsen Boulevard if the bond is passed by voters on May 3.
