Missouri City council members on Monday voted to join a purchasing co-op, approved a contract extension with a tennis pro to oversee lessons, approved cash payments in lieu of parkland in two developments, and OK’d commercial space in a Sienna housing development.
City joins purchasing co-op
City council approved a purchasing agreement with the Harris County Department of Education for the purchase of goods and services through a cooperative run by HCDE.
Choice Partners purchasing cooperative handles the procurement process for goods and service contracts, and government bodies may sign up to obtain goods and services from those vendors working with the co-op in order to get lower prices on them.
According to the co-op’s website, Choice Partners works mainly with school districts. Missouri City officials did not say what goods or services it planned to purchase through the cooperative.
The vote was unanimous.
Contract approved with tennis pro
The city council unanimously approved a contract with tennis professional Willie Salvador to oversee the day-to-day tennis instruction for the city’s Parks and Recreation department.
In a presentation to the council, Parks and Recreation Director Jason Mangum told council members the department’s tennis program has grown by 530 percent in less than five years.
Meeting documents state the contract “is on pace for $85,000.” Specific terms of the contract were not released.
Cash accepted in lieu of parkland
Council members approved cash payments from developers seeking to deviate from city codes that require minimum amounts of park space in two housing subdivisions they intend to build.
One cash offer is for $287,000 and the other is for $236,600. According to meeting documents, the money must be used for park-related projects in Park Zone 10 and Park Zone 7, respectively.
The first offer relates to a housing development called Dry Creek Village to be built on a 134-acre strip of land running along the west edge of Fort Bend Parkway between Lake Olympia Parkway and Trammel Fresno Road. The building plans call for a small piece of land at the southwest corner of Fort Bend and Lake Olympia parkways to be zoned for commercial use. The subdivision will include 410 homes.
The second development is called Mustang Trails. Plans for this subdivision call for 227 homes to be built on 56 acres located south of Cartwright Road and west of Texas Parkway.
The Missouri City’s Parks and Recreation Board reviewed the proposals at a January board meeting and voted to recommend both proposals be accepted by city council.
The proposals were later reviewed by the Missouri City Planning and Zoning Commission in February, with commissioners also recommending city council accept the proposals.
The motion passed unanimously.
Commercial space added to Sienna development
In the first of two readings, city council approved an ordinance that changes the development agreement between the city and Sienna/Johnson North L.P., to allow commercial space to be included in a development that had called for residential housing only.
The amendment allows Sienna/Johnson North to build commercial space on a 1-acre site west of the Fort Bend County Library on Sienna Springs Boulevard. The rest of the 33-acre development site will consist of residential housing.
The planning and zoning commission reviewed the requested change in January and voted to recommend it be approved by city council.
The ordinance passed 5-2 with council members Yolanda Ford and Chris Preston voting against.
