Katy City Council purchases, annexes land

At its regular meeting on Monday, April 13, the Katy City Council authorized the purchase of four tracts of land and approved the annexation of land west of the city of Katy. Land purchases approved at the meeting total $608,734 and are to be used for road and city improvement projects, city of Katy Mayor Fabol Hughes said. Three of the land purchases total nearly .37 acres each and lie along Franz Road and Avenue D. "Currently Franz Road dead ends on Avenue D, [with this land] we're going to take Franz Road across Avenue D," Hughes said. The extension of Franz Road will be four lanes wide, Hughes said. The $288,734 used for the purchase of these lands came out of Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County funds. The council's final land purchase was a 3.67-acre tract on Drexel Drive for $320,000, the cost of which came out of the city's reserve funds. This land may be the location of the city's second fire station, part of a $5 million bond approved by voters in November 2014. Alternatively the land may be used for the expansion of city amenities such as its dog park, Hughes said. The city also approved the annexation of land located west of the city of Katy to Igloo Road between Highway 90 and I-10. Hughes said that this annexation may be the city's last until more land becomes available. "If we didn't annex that land, Fulshear would have and they would have gotten all of the tax money from it," he said. "[With this annexation] we are up against the city of Houston. Until Houston moves we're landlocked."