More on The Woodlands' effort to fend off annexation
The deal reached between the city of Houston and The Woodlands to prevent annexation is generating plenty of buzz. For what it's worth (very little, I know), I think it's the best deal The Woodlands could have reached under the circumstances. Does it seem like extortion? Sure, but the alternative is to end up like Kingwood, and residents of The Woodlands are undoubtedly eager to avoid that.
Today's Chronicle story by Matt Stiles, Renée Lee and Kristen Mack gives us more information about the deal and the reasoning behind it:
The city began working on the plan last spring, when White asked former City Councilman Mark Ellis to discuss the issue with state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands.
What followed were "good, hard-nose negotiations," Williams said, which led to Thursday's historic announcement years before the 2014 deadline likely would have prompted fiercer debate.
"What we both agreed on is that we're better off dealing with this before it becomes a crisis," Williams said.
White and Ellis said annexing The Woodlands would have brought the city a large pool of new tax revenue, but also a growing population of more than 80,000 people expecting parks, trash pickup, police and fire protection, and water and sewer lines. Those services would have been hard to deliver 25 miles north, even in a city experienced at dealing with sprawl.
Imagine The Woodlands five years after Houston takes over. It's not pretty.
The story includes this quote from state Sen. John Whitmire:
"The Woodlands would be nothing but a deer lease if it weren't for the city of Houston," he said. "Residents of The Woodlands enjoy the golden goose of Houston. They get the benefits of working here during the day and then going back to their comfortable, homogenous, bedroom communities at night."
That's probably true...to an extent. But how many companies are headquartered in The Woodlands now, drawing Woodlands and Houston folks to work? It's surely not a complete Houston-gives, The Woodlands-takes situation, not by a long shot.
Now here's a question for those folks worried that Houston isn't getting enough out of this deal (a bizarre notion, I think): Does Katy (a comfortable bedroom community) have a deal with Houston whereby Katy sends money to pay for its residents enjoying the "golden goose" that Houston offers? I don't know; I'm asking.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/09/06 03:06 PM | Print | Comments (9)
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