City center, new roads proposed

A little less than one year into comprehensive plan process, the City of Magnolia has honed in on the importance of developing a more elaborate road network, the need for a more prominent city center and growing the city population.

Although the plan is still in draft form, and funding hinges largely on the city striking up partnerships with developers, city officials are considering the idea of establishing a City Center in the open land behind City Hall. Many details have yet to be determined, but the new City Center would serve as a pedestrian-friendly gathering place connecting businesses and activity centers with City Hall, and it could potentially contain housing developments as well.

"This is something that could help establish the identity of the downtown Magnolia area while filling a place that is currently vacant," said Deborah Rose Miller, the city's economic development coordinator. "We could build here for a reasonable price, but we can't do it without the help of developers."

The plan is also noteworthy for putting a focus on mobility. For Magnolia to be prepared for an increase in population, planners say the city has to work toward setting up a network of roads to provide people with alternative corridors from the overburdened state roads, FM 1774 and FM 1488.

"[Magnolia] has a spoke hub where everything is funneled through a few key intersections," said Liz Probst, a planner with Kendig Keast Collaborative, the consulting firm the city hired to help develop the plan. "We want to expand the road network and increase the number of linkages, providing access through greater parts of the community."

KKC is in the process of tying together final pieces of the plan, including the chapter on housing and the chapter on implementation, said Brett Keast, co-founder and president of the firm. It will be presented to city officials to be prioritized Feb. 28. Keast said the plan should be ready for implementation by April.

Annexation goals

An overarching goal of the city as detailed by the comprehensive plan draft is to reach a population mark of 5,000 inhabitants, which is the number needed to achieve "home rule authority" in Texas.

"Home rule authority provides additional annexation authority as well as administrative and financial mechanisms," Probst said. "In terms of land use, it gives greater ability to steer the direction of steady growth."

Probst said the plan is designed to guide the city's growth over the next 20–30 years, but exactly when a population of 5,000 will be achieved is difficult to predict.

"It's really driven by the market," she said. "Our model is anticipating growth based on trends and movement around both Houston and Magnolia, but we don't know specifically when they'll surpass that mark."

In addition to expanding city limits, the plan provides information on existing land classifications and what future land classifications could look like. With 45 percent of land within city limits undeveloped and 8.5 percent of land in the broader planning area classified as "vacant," the time is now at hand to start thinking about the best use for it, Miller said.

"Developers are knocking on our door, and it's up to us how we want our undeveloped areas to look," she said.

City Center

The City Center concept was first brought up in the early stages of the planning process in a focus group environment between planners and Magnolia residents, Probst said.

"In the initial listening sessions, people talked about opportunities for pedestrian-friendly, more urban-type mixed-use developments," she said.

The center would serve as a gathering place for community members, offering a number of small-scale businesses and housing options within about a half-mile of The Stroll and other downtown amenities. In planning how the center would look, Probst said a balanced approach was taken in setting aside room for residential and commercial developments.

"This region is residential by nature," she said. "One thing we promote in our plan is smaller footprint areas that don't include big box stores, but smaller convenience stores distributed along the community and not just at main corridors."

Road network

The overall theme guiding the plan is community connectivity, Magnolia's City Administrator Paul Mendes said. A long-term goal for Magnolia is setting up a road network by creating more arterial connectors.

"As subdivisions here develop, they often end with a cul-de-sac, but don't continue on to neighboring subdivisions," Mendes said. "Everyone filters on to main roads from the local roads."

The plan lays out a road network the city could potentially reach over the 20–30 year timeframe. Similar to the City Center, how much the city is actually able to build depends on partnerships with developers, Miller said.

Probst said the first step to designing the network involved identifying new residential opportunities. After that, planners determined where roads should be created or extended to ensure a smooth traffic flow for residents and for police and firefighters to access certain parts of town in an efficient manner.

"That's what is needed in a functioning thoroughfare network," she said. "Magnolia is fortunate in that it still has the undeveloped land available to make this sort of thing possible."

Magnolia's identity

The comprehensive plan takes measures to ensure Magnolia preserves its identity through growth, Keast said.

"There are so many suburbs within the metroplex and Magnolia really wants to hold onto its identity," he said. "The danger with growth is that quality of life can be compromised."

Mendes agreed, citing the recurring sentiment that Magnolia residents do not want their city to become the next FM 1960.

"Magnolia has created a niche for itself, and we're looking to hold on to that value," he said.