Magnolia City Council members voted to rezone 55.5 acres of land in the Unity Plaza zoning district to semi-urban residential, during a July 14 teleconference meeting.

The area includes three tracts of land that are located directly behind Magnolia City Hall, said Tana Ross, the city's economic development coordinator and planning technician.

“Unity Plaza includes city hall, it includes the fire station and two other properties owned by [Montgomery County Emergency Services District No. 10],” Ross said. “In addition to that it includes 55 acres owned by a family estate behind city hall.”

Ross said the family, which owns the property, has been trying to rezone the property for residential purposes.

“This is allowing three tracts to step out of Unity Plaza, become residential like the surrounding properties around them, and keep the Unity Plaza intact,” she said.

Magnolia’s Planning and Zoning Commission has already held two public hearings on the subject, and this is the consensus of what property owners desire, city officials said.

“It is land that is probably not going to be developed in any way other than residential,” Ross said. “It is adjoining residential, it actually adjoins Magnolia Ridge, so residential is an appropriate zoning for it.”