From City Hall Annex, it's the Planning Commission meeting right here on HDB.

Thursday, July 23rd, 2026.

I'm Lisa Clark, the chair of the Houston Planning Commission, and I'm calling this meeting to order as an in-person meeting at the City Hall Annex at 900 Bagby.

Speakers, if you wish to address the Commission on an item, please fill out the speaker's form before the item is called and turn it into staff near the front door.

Consent and repeat speakers are allowed for one minute.

New speakers are timed for two.

Speaker rules are found on the top portion of the speaker sign-in form, which are attached to the agenda.

Council members speaking on an item are not timed.

Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan applicants will have three minutes for their opening statements instead of the usual five.

Non-applicants and general speakers are allowed two minutes time.

There's not an option for rebuttal, even if you do not use your full two minutes.

You will not be allowed to speak again, and time cannot be allotted to another speaker.

To establish a quorum of 11, I'll call the roll.

Chair Clark is present.

Vice Chair Garza.

Present.

Present.

Commissioner Jones.

Commissioner Motes.

Ron is not here.

Commissioner Pierce.

Present.

Commissioner Shepard.

Present.

Commissioner Sigler.

Present.

Commissioner Victor.

And Secretary Von Tran.

Present.

Did I get everybody?

We missed somebody.

Did I miss you?

I'm sorry, Mike Mark.

I'm just trying trying to go through here as best I can.

Commissioner Sykes.

So we have 11, so we do have a quorum.

Okay.

Thank you.

Now I'll call for the director's report.

Director Tran.

Good afternoon, Chair Clark, Commission members, staff, and the public.

I am Von Tran, Secretary of this Commission and Director of the Houston Planning and Development Department.

Welcome.

I do not have any to report today, so we can continue to proceed.

But uh just as always, uh, if you do need assistance, please give us a call.

Our number is 832-393-660.

You can reach the planner of the day at 832-393-6624.

This concludes my report.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So let's go ahead and get started with rumor Roman numeral one.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the planning commission.

My name is Petra Shaw, and I will be presiding over the 2026 Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan Amendments, public hearing meeting today.

On our agenda today, I will give a brief introduction, open the public hearing for each of the requests, first from the public sector and then from the private sector.

Discuss next steps and conclude by adjourning the meeting.

Today's meeting is the third meeting in the 2026 Major Thoroughfare and Freeway Plan Amendment Process, an annual procedure to update the city's long-range transportation plan to support connectivity and mobility, where we will hear from the public on this year's proposed amendments.

This meeting will be followed by an update meeting on August 20th, scheduled at 1 p.m.

here at the City Hall Annex, located at 900 Bagby Street, where staff will present updates and revisions to amendment requests that may come out from review.

Planning Commission will then act on each amendment request at the following meeting on September 3rd, also scheduled at 1 p.m.

here at the City Hall Annex, located at 900 Bagby Street.

This year we have seven proposed amendments.

Of the seven proposed amendments, two are within City of Houston city limits and five are in the ETJ.

For more information about the MTFP amendments, please visit the MTFP website or contact staff by email at mobility.planny at Houston TX.gov or by calling 832-393-6660.

If it pleases the commission, staff would like to move on to the next item on the agenda, which is the MTFP amendments in the public sector.

Yes, but I just want to let everyone know that we'll hear from staff on each item and then I'll call for speakers.

And also know that the there's no action by the planning commission today.

We are just simply having a workshop to introduce uh this year's major thoroughfare and freeway plan items.

Thank you.

You can go on to uh Roman numeral two.

Amendment 2A is Gulfden Connector Busway Project submitted by Metro.

The subject amendment is located in City Limits, Harris County, within the Gulfden community.

The applicant proposes to reclassify three thoroughfares.

Chimney Rock Road from a major thoroughfare to a transit corridor street from West Park Drive to Gulfden Street.

Reclassify Gulfden Street from a major thoroughfare to a transit corridor street from Chimney Rock Road to Hillcroft Avenue, and reclassify Hillcroft Avenue from a principal thoroughfare to a transit corridor corridor street from Gulfton Street to Bisonet Street.

The Gulfton Connector Busway Project is a proposed 4.1 mile dedicated busway that will provide rapid transit service to the Gulfden community, featuring seven stations that connect riders to local bus routes and key destinations.

The applicant would like to designate West Park Lower Uptown Transit Center to Bayland Park as a transit corridor that would align with the proposed rapid transit system.

The proposed reclassifications will reorient each street for multimodal transportation.

The area around the subject site, sub my apologies.

Subject amendments consists of mostly high density commercial and multifamily development.

Much of this development predates the city's requirement to plaque commercial properties, so much of the area is still part of the original Westmoreland Farms Platz from the 1920s.

There have been a handful of commercial plates in school subdivisions recorded since 2013.

Madam Chair, if it pleases the commission, you may open the public hearing for this item at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The public hearing for item reminder numeral two is open.

I have no one signed to speak on this item.

Is there anyone that wishes to?

Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing and we'll move on to Roman 3B.

Amendment 3B is Barker Cypress and proposed North South Minor Collectors submitted by REGA engineering.

The subject amendment is located at the in the ETJ, Harris County, in Northwest Houston, just south of the Grand Parkway.

The applicant proposes to delete an approximately 9,873 feet unimproved segment of Barker Cypress Road, a major thoroughfare between the Grand Parkway and Grant Road, and an approximately 3,326 feet unimproved segment of an unnamed North South Minor Collector between the proposed Boudreau Road and Kittsman Road.

The applicant asserts that maintaining the MTF MTFP minor collector designations and major thoroughfare designations of these segments of Barker Cypress Road and an unnamed North South Minor Collector is impractical due to significant physical constraints, including floodplain and flood weight impacts conflicting with existing utility and drainage easements in the presence of established parkland.

Additionally, the applicant asserts the corridor is too short and primarily serves local access with projected traffic volumes that do not justify its current classifications.

The current roadway network already provides adequate regional connectivity for the surrounding area.

Most of the land surrounding the segments of Barker Cypress Road and the unnamed North South Minor Collector consists of large single family residential properties, extensive tracts of undeveloped land in the AD Dyes Park.

Recent plating activity in the area indicates plans for the development of residential communities on several of the large acre properties.

Madam Chair, if it pleases the commission, you may open the public hearing for this item at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The public hearing for item Roman numeral three B is open.

I do have a speaker signed.

Uh Jerome Butch Egan.

Good afternoon.

If you wouldn't mind stating your name for the record.

I can't hear you very well.

I'm a I said if you wouldn't mind stating your name for the record.

I own the property currently on uh Grant Road at what is proposed.

The thoroughfare, which Harry Lawson and I in 2016 suggested rather than take 50 feet from us or 50 feet from the neighbor west of us, we were going to let them take a hundred foot strip from us since we have mostly farmland out there.

Since then they've come back and wanted to take not only my hundred foot strip that we offered, but additional 49.6 feet west of that, cutting into my property, taking out half the pond that I've had there for 30 years.

I don't know why they don't want to rent cover a little more to the west and not have to worry about coming all on my side.

The 100 foot wide strip that I have that runs 1200 feet long.

It was put there because of the BGM Long Lake project that was going on for 323 acres.

Uh Aaron Alford and myself decided there's no reason to come through that road because there's no entrance onto my 100 foot wide strip.

Since the county wasn't going to do it, they put it on the back burner.

So I'd like to know what they're going to do to straighten it out or make me really happy they're going to do something with my fish pond.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

We appreciate you coming in.

I don't have anyone else signed to speak.

Is there anyone that wishes to?

Okay.

Oh.

Yes.

Do I have someone else?

Please come forward.

Come you have to come to the microphone, please.

And please state your name for the record.

Thank you.

My name is Jigmeet Mon.

So we have a property east of this uh this lineman.

It's about 15 acres.

And um we just found out about this recently, and uh we would like some time to figure out like how it's gonna impact our our site.

So if if we can get a little more time to you know figure this out.

Um they said there's gonna be other development that's coming.

So uh we need we need more time.

Yes, sir.

So we're not taking a vote today.

We're just hearing uh public speakers.

It's this is a public hearing, and staff can get with you after this and uh talk to you about it, okay.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, is there anyone else that wishes to speak?

Please come forward.

Please state your name for the record.

Thank you.

Murzan al Walla, the applicant.

Um I just wanted to say it on the record like his concerns are um duly addressed by what we are proposing or deleting.

We are requesting the deletion of the major thoroughfare.

So the concerns of property getting um taken away from them are definitely sorted out.

And that's the thing I just wanted to be on the record.

So thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Is there anyone else that wishes to speak?

Okay, hearing none, I'll close the public hearing on item 3B, and we'll move on to 3C.

Item 3C is Kerr Myre Road submitted by Meta.

The subject amendment is located in the ETJ Harris County in Northwest Houston, south of 290 and west of the Grand Parkway.

The applicant proposes to delete an approximately 5,200 foot unimproved segment of Kermire Road, a major thoroughfare between Baith Road and Betka Road.

The subject segment of Kermire Road has been part of the MTFP since an update in 1982 and shown on the city's published map in 1983.

At the time, the city envisioned a major thoroughfare connecting the area around Spring Creek with the southern ETJ line west of Katy, Texas.

Subsequent amendments have truncated Kermire to where its proposed southern terminus is within the Grand Prairie community just south of the subject segment.

The subject site features an existing data center, and the applicant proposes an expansion with several more structures and detention areas.

The applicant asserts that dedicating a 100-foot wide major thoroughfare would put represent an insurmountable barrier to the proposed data center expansion, citing challenges with providing physical connections within the complex over a public street and securing the site.

The applicant also asserts that the relatively low trip generation in the existing segments of Warren Ranch and Kickapoo Roads as alternatives for regional traffic circulation.

The area is experiencing a high level of rapid development in all directions.

Most of the plotting activity involves developing single-family homes out of acreage for multiple master planned communities.

Thank you.

The public hearing for item excuse me.

Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing and we'll move on to item D.

Item 3D is Mason Roads, also submitted by Meta.

The subject amendment is located in the ETJ Harris County in northwest Houston, south of 290, east of Grand Parkway, and north of I-10.

The applicant proposes to realign an unimproved segment of Mason Road, a major thoroughfare between FM 529 and West Little York Road.

The applicant requests a realignment of Mason Road to correct inconsistencies in the current major thoroughfare and freeway plan that resulted from previous development approvals and mapping errors.

The existing alignment requires sharp turn and includes a 460-foot jog near FM 529 that does not match the approved general plans or the roadways already constructed north of FM 529.

The applicant asserts the current alignment also requires a bridge across the wide section of Bear Creek.

Sorry, Bear Creek floodway, resulting in significant construction challenges and costs.

In addition, the applicant asserts a revised alignment would better reflect existing development, correct mapping errors, and could reduce future bridge construction costs by taking advantage of anticipated floodplain map updates or by avoiding the widest portion of the floodway.

The subject segment of Mason Road is within the Grand Mason GP.

The area is experiencing rapid development.

Most of the plotting activity involves developing single family homes out of acreage for multiple master plan communities.

Madam Chair, if it pleases the commission, you may open the public hearing for this item at this time.

Thank you.

The public hearing for item 3C.

Excuse me, D is open.

I have no one signed to speak.

Is there anyone that wishes to hearing none?

I'll close the public hearing and move forward with 3E.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the planning commission.

My name is Akeelah Bidgee.

Amendment 3E is South Ridge Road submitted by Meta Planning and Design.

The subject amendment is located in the ETJ, Harris County, Northheaston, west of I-45 North.

The applicant proposes to delete Southridge Road, a minor collector between Ella Boulevard and Kirkendal Road.

The subject segment of South Ridge Road has been a part of MTFP since 2018.

Harris County originally submitted the application to help alleviate school-related traffic on Ella Boulevard.

At the time, the proposed segment was approximately 4850 feet long.

Since then, approximately 6090 feet of the roadway has been constructed to help improve traffic circulation with the nearby school.

The applicant intends on intends to develop their 321 acre site for light industrial use.

They assert the property is well suited for large industrial and commercial users because of its strategic location along major thoroughfare Kirkendal Road and its proximity to I-45.

The applicant contends that dedicating a 60-foot-wide minor collector would not enhance the regional connectivity and would like to avoid mixing industrial traffic with school traffic and is therefore proposing to provide ingress and egress exclusively via Kirkendal Road.

The applicant would also like to avoid crossing multiple pipelines as seen in the exhibit.

Westfield High School, Bammo Middle School, Robertson Middle School, Mayor Elementary School, and Major Elementary School are some of the institutions that are near the proposed deletion.

Other uses in the area include multi-fam multifamily and single-family residential, religious institutions, and commercial uses.

Madam Chair, if it pleases the commission, you may open the public hearing for this item at this time.

Thank you.

The public hearing for item 3E is open.

I have no one signed to speak.

Is there anyone that wishes to?

Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing and we'll move forward with 3F.

Amendment 3F is Vicksburg Boulevard submitted by BGE.

The subject amendment is located in City of Houston ETJ, Fort Bend County, in Southwest Houston, west of Fort Bend Parkway.

The applicant proposes to delete an approximately 1,700 feet of unimproved segment of Vicksburg Boulevard, a major thoroughfare south of Metcard Road and west of Fort Bend Parkway.

The subject segment of Vicksburg Boulevard has been a part of the MTFP since 2016 between FM 2234 to the Houston City Limit Boundary.

For the applicant, there are physical and logistical constraints like the two existing television antennas and the supporting stations obstructing this alignment.

Additionally, Fort Burn County has also removed Wicksburg Boulevard from their major thoroughfare and freeway plan in April of 2025.

Madam Chair, if it pleases the Commission, you may open the public hearing for this item at this time.

Thank you.

The public hearing for item 3F is open.

I do have a speaker, Miss Perdita Chavez, representing Chief of Staff for Mayor Pro Tim Castic Statum.

Welcome.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good afternoon, members of the Planning Commission.

I am Predita Chavez, Chief of Staff from Mayor Pro Tim, Martha Castex Tatum.

She's a council member of District K.

And I do understand that this particular amendment is in the ETJ, but it is adjacent to neighborhoods in Fort Bend County, Fort Bin Houston.

And just want to just make a general statement on behalf of Mayor Pro Tim.

First, I'd like to first thank the planning and development staff, especially Petra Shaw and also Jeff Butler for their assistance to the district K office on this amendment.

Did share this information with the communities in Fort Bend Houston that are near this particular amendment that is the Quail Run community, Quail Glean, and also she shared the information with the Fort Bend uh Houston Super Neighborhood.

Um of the presidents of the president of Quail Run Homeowners Association did reach out to Mayor Pro Tim and stated that he intended to invite the applicant to their uh meeting on July 14th.

I'm not sure if that happened or not.

Um, but um just want to make uh that statement.

But again, um just thank everyone who assisted uh the Mayor Pro Tem on questions regarding this amendment and um I yield back.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I have no one else signed to speak on F3F.

Is there anyone else that wishes to speak?

Please come forward.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Grissom.

If you'd state your name for the record, please.

Uh uh good afternoon, Gerald Grissom, BGE.

Uh just want to confirm that we did meet with the Quail Run uh Community Association on April 14th at their HOA meeting.

Thank you.

Very good, thank you.

Okay, is there anyone else that wishes to speak?

If not, I'll close the public hearing and we'll move on to 3G.

Thank you.

Amendment 3G is Coastal Prairie Conservancy submitted by the Coastal Prairie Conservancy.

The subject amendment is located in the ETJ, Harris County, and Waller County in northwest Houston, south of 290 and west of Grand Parkway.

The applicant proposes to reclassify, realign, and delete all major thoroughfares within the Coastal Prairie Conservancy's approximately 20,000 acre protected area along the Waller Harris County County lines.

The applicant asserts the intent is to align the city's long-range transportation plan with the goals of the Coastal Prairie Conservancy's goal of conserving and protecting a hundred thousand acres of wetlands across the Houston metropolitan area.

Major thoroughfares are intended to provide necessary traffic circulation and access when new development occurs.

The applicant is asserting that none of the proposed major thoroughfares affecting the Katy Prairie are necessary necessary as the Conservancy aims to preclude any development and leave the land in its natural state.

The land use of the surrounding area is limited to mostly agriculture, large lot, single family, small commercial uses, and a large swath of undeveloped land already protected by the coastal prairie conservancy.

However, the areas along the nearby Grand Parkway, I-10 and 290 are developing rapidly.

Madam Chair, if it pleases the commission, you may open the public hearing for this item at this time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The public hearing for item G 3G is open.

I have several speakers that signed up for particular items under here.

It goes G1 through G11.

And others just said G.

So if you have a particular one you want to talk about, or you want to do them all just when you come up when I call you, state which ones you're talking about.

Our first speaker is Stephen Gast.

Can I yield to our director, Mary Ann or CEO and the President?

Well, sure.

Let's see.

There we go.

Okay, Mayor.

We thought we put them in the right order.

Sorry.

Well, it was kind of hard because some people said G1, G2, and then some people just said G.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um good afternoon, uh, Madam Chairwoman and Commissioner.

I'm Mary Ann Piacincini.

I'm the president and CEO of the Coastal Prairie Conservancy.

I was here in your May workshop, so thank you.

I won't repeat those remarks.

I'm gonna have different remarks.

But um really excited to be here and to talk to you about our amendments.

The Coastal Prairie Conservancy is a accredited land trust.

We do have over 36,000 acres that have been protected already in Southeast Texas.

20,000 acres is in Waller and Harris counties, and those are the subject of our amendments.

Um I want to emphasize one point.

The foundation of everything that we're asking is that these lands are not vacant and they're not awaiting development.

They are conservation lands.

They're permanently protected, and that is forever with the way that we've got it.

Most of them already have easements on it or are owned by the Conservancy.

Others we're putting easements on them now because they are adding to our expanse of our preserve.

Um CPC and the landowners have made a conscious decision to actually protect these lands in perpetuity.

Um we understand the role of the major thoroughfare and freeway plan, that it is preparing the future for the region for growth.

But we're asking you to recognize that the plan has to state that these conservation lands are not going to be developed.

They don't need roads through them.

And we are hoping that you would recognize that that these are natural infrastructure that's important to this region, just as residential, commercial, and industrial development is.

I want to say that transportation planning looks decades into the future.

Conservation looks forever into the future.

The two plans must work together.

Lands won't be developed, so the roadway alignments based on future urbanization do not reflect reality.

They put we want to put roads on lands that are already going to be developed, not on conservation lands.

Don't fragment our lands.

Existing lands are, we're not asking that the existing lands be deleted, but they remain as minor collectors.

We'll actually be coming back to you next year to talk about park lands.

We just didn't want to confuse the issues, so we just want to keep them as minor collectors.

We request our request is straightforward.

Please amend the major thoroughfare and freeway plan to recognize the permanently conservation status, permanent conservation status of these lands.

And we want to work with transportation plans.

We don't want the transportation plans to work against us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I commend you on how quickly you did that to finish up.

We appreciate your comments.

We appreciate you coming in.

Okay.

Mr.

Gast, would you like to come now?

Very welcome.

My name is Stephen Gast, and uh I am here to support the entire agenda of the CPC.

And uh I had a story to tell.

I'll try to do it very fast, but it's just a matter of evaluation.

I got here in 85 from Kansas, so I love prairies.

First place I went was out there.

I've led more than a hundred tours out there.

I've been on a board member for Houston Audubon, who is proud to say that we began the conservation effort out there very early on.

And since then, uh with a goal stated by Texas AM that 30 to 50,000 acres would save a fragment representation of the biodiversity of Katy Prairie.

To that end, Mary Ann and her crew have done amazing in accumulating 23,000 acres.

We're going to get to 30,000, and it's because of like-minded landowners as well as conservationists, as well as a lot of taxpayer dollars.

And over the years, it is this coalition of people together with thousands of volunteer hours from my own company, Conical Phillips planting plants and chopping things down.

So all of these people recognize there's something really valuable.

This is unique to the City of Houston in the United States.

I don't see any place that has something of this wildlife value within side of the Transco Tower beacon lighting up every time I'm standing out there leading a tour at sunset.

You can see it.

Last thing, the last point I want to make, it's a little bit of an emotional thing, so I forgive me.

But how many of you know that we have river otters living in Buffalo Bayou?

Probably not all of you.

But how did I learn about it?

It was roadkill.

It was on West Timer, and it was as it crosses Buffalo Bayou and you should cross Barker Reservoir.

And guess what?

We I have regularly seen River Otter frolicking in the wetlands on the Katy Prairie.

Now, a lot of roads means a lot of roadkill.

Sorry, it's a fact of life.

And so the more we can do to protect that.

Now I've had the pleasure of leading uh Leslie Brianis and Sally Alcorn out there for a sunset tour.

And I would be happy to invite all of you this uh January, February to come and see 4,000 Sand Hill cranes land at sunset with owls and coyotes and hawks all around us as they come to roost in the wetlands of Katie Prairie.

It's an open invitation.

Let me know.

You need four o'clock until 7 p.m.

to do that, and I would entertain any and all of you.

Thank you.

We appreciate that.

I'm going to keep your contact info.

I may take you up on that.

I'll make sure you guys get the invitation.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Okay.

Our next speaker is Elise Elisa Donovan.

I was hoping to be at the end.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

I just put you at the end.

All right.

Jim, look.

Do you want to be at the end too?

Good afternoon.

Jim Luke.

I represent the Walter and Luke families.

Oh.

The Walters have been really good for Houston and put a lot of money in Methodists.

We're lucky to own 2200 acres of land.

And we've been working with the Mary Ann for years.

We have 2200 acres.

On the west of us is the Tuckers that have about 6,000.

And east of us is the uh Warren Ranch.

So in that area, it's about 15,000 acres.

We have 2200 acres.

It's it's it's wildlife.

You go out there, you can see eagles, you can see deer, all sorts of the ducks come down.

Uh the last we're planted over 50,000 oak trees on this property.

I'm I'm building hiking trails on this properties.

The Boy Scouts, church groups, business groups, a lot of people use this land.

And it's so nice to have this green belt out there in Houston.

I know we need the roads, but this area out there, there's so many landowners that want to keep this a green belt.

If we can just please keep the roads from cutting this thing up.

Once you cut up this, the you got two roads going through this ranch of ours.

It's gonna destroy them on the wildlife and everything else.

We have ducks coming down, we have eagles, we have all sorts of beautiful wildlife out there.

We're planting old crews all the time.

We're making this place a beautiful waste.

All the fan all the groups around there are working on the property to make it better.

I just can't see you guys.

Let's put roads through there.

It's gonna break my heart.

It's gonna break a lot of people's heart.

And we don't need to make Houston nothing besides freeways, housing tracks.

You know, and and shopping malls.

This place, I 200 years ago, this Republic of Texas started.

And this is a beautiful city, but we gotta save some green belts.

And this area out there is luckily for people like Mary Ann, these farmers and ranchers have kept this thing.

We don't want it developed.

We don't want roads through it.

So thank you very much for listening to us.

Thank you.

Appreciate you coming in.

And we do appreciate what you guys are doing.

I know we just sit up here and bob our head because we're not making any motions today, but do know that we do appreciate the conservation that you guys are doing.

And I think staff and the director has been really good over the years to work with you all.

So fingers crossed, we'll keep it up.

All right.

All right, thank you so much.

Our next speaker is Mark Ely.

Good afternoon.

My name's Mark Ely, and I'm the ranch manager and biologist for the Tucker family who owns 7400 acres in Waller and Harris Counties, and their properties are known as Sandhill Farm.

50% of the acreage is under conservation easements with the Coastal Prairie Conservancy, and multiple tracts of Sandhill Farm would be adversely affected by the proposed roads of the major thoroughfare and freeway plant.

There are direct and indirect negative impacts of roads to wildlife species, wildlife populations, and wildlife habitat.

Those include habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and degradation, barriers to wildlife movement, mortality from vehicle collisions, road avoid avoidance behavior by wildlife, establishment and dispersal of non-native invasive vegetation along road right aways, changes in water drainage and sources of pollution.

These negative effects are labeled as road effect zones and can extend central hundred yards from the road itself.

These negative effects are known to be compounded with increasing road size, traffic volume, traffic noise, and speed limits.

The Katy Prairie was estimated to be 500,000 acres prior to European settlement, and now only a small fraction of it remains.

Western Harris County has experienced rapid urban sprawl, and now Walter County is the fastest growing county in Texas.

The Coastal Prairie Conservancy, Sandhill Farm, Walter Ranch, Freeman Ranch, and other adjacent landowners have invested and committed significant money, manpower, and time to acquire, conserve, manage, and restore their properties.

These contiguous properties, properties of the most ecologically valuable areas left for wildlife habitat, ranching and farming on the Katy Prairie.

Please consider all the benefits of removing these proposed roads from these critically important properties.

The Tucker family and I support all recommendations and amendments proposed by CPC for the major thoroughfare freeway plan.

I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

We appreciate you coming in today.

Our next speaker is Felicia Sands.

Unfortunately, they were meant to be in color.

Okay.

Um do what we can do.

Don't want to be hitting that setup.

Go ahead and start with your comments.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Felicia Zayner, and I'm here to support the amendments laid out by the Coastal Bayer Conservancy.

My background is geology, geospatial analysis, and water resource management, and I am a Texas master naturalist.

I have conducted a spatial and hydraulic analysis of the Cyber Screek watershed for the Conservancy.

My findings strongly support the requested amendments.

My analysis establishes that an estimated 118 acres of land would be lost to compacted earthworks and 38 acres to impervious concrete roadways, totaling 156 acres lost.

While this acreage is concerning, the resulting impact to the protected protected native prairie and the entire Cypress Creek watershed is absolutely detrimental.

The Cypress Creek watershed spans from Prairie Creek or Prairie View, excuse me, to in Waller County to spring in northern Harris County.

Over the last 40 years, this area has undergone aggressive development.

What started in 1985 as roughly 33% developed land has skyrocketed to over 50%.

As a consequence of this added impervious surface runoff and channelization, severe flooding has become a chronic issue for the lower, more populated portion of the watershed.

That flooding will only continue to worsen if we persist in developing critical landscapes, such as the Katy Prairie.

Due to the low absorption of Arcady area clay soils, the prairie depends heavily on native flora.

The deep root structures of these native plants are critical for water infiltration, retention, and reducing runoff.

If these roads are built, natural flow paths of Cypress Creek headwaters will be permanently altered or damaged by ground compaction and the loss of native flora.

This translates to over 38 million gallons of lost infiltration for just those 156 acres of affected land.

This also can result in assuming a six-inch rainfall event and expected additional 7.3 million gallons of water being directed directly into the Cypress Creek watershed.

This is a staggering 54% increase above native prairie baseline.

For the stream system already at capacity during storm events, this is absolutely unacceptable.

The native prairie acts as a critical buffer, which we already know.

Um when the choice is to spend taxpayer dollars on unnecessary roads that will destroy a vital natural defense for downstream home and businesses or to leave the prairie untouched.

The best path forward is clear.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate you coming in and sharing that information.

Our next speaker is Kristen Lucas.

Back to presentation, please.

They were talking to the uh tech tech guy back in the back.

Hi, my name is Kristen Lucas.

I don't own land out there, and I never will.

I'm just your garden variety Houstonian who is forever grateful for all of the preserved land that we have around Houston.

I've been out to the Katy Prairie Conservancy.

I love it.

I did done some voluntary work there.

I've watched the butterflies there.

I just want to say that I support them wholeheartedly.

Thank you so much.

Our next speaker is Kelly Warren Jewart.

I think I pronounced that right.

If I didn't, please correct me.

So I was going to speak on G1 and G2.

Do you want me to just do it all together?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

So my name is Kelly Warren Jewart, and we um co-own Ward Ranch with the Conservancy.

So we do oppose Widen Eagle Mound Road, which is west of Warren Ranch Road.

Um, as the boundary would invade Ward Ranch on the south side and then the Ward family on the north side.

So by widening this, this um reduces valuable ag property that supported ranchheak for generations.

Every additional foot of ride away means the loss of protective grazing land, increased maintenance costs, greater safety concerns as livestock horses, equipment, and ranch vehicles must cross the wider, busier roadway.

Rather than preserving the rural character and ag heritage of our community, this project would place an unfair burden on families who continue to steward and work this land.

So we respectfully ask that mound roads stay a minor collector.

And also, so for Jack Road, as you can see on the map, um, when it if it extends west, it goes directly through the heart of Warren Ranch.

Warren Ranch has been around since the mid to late 1800s.

I'm fifth generation.

I have my sixth generation children here who are also very passionate.

Um because there are no homes or commercial destinations on the interior of the ranch, a roadway through the center would provide limited public benefit while permanently dividing protected conservation land, disrupting wildlife, reducing the historic character of the ranch.

It impacted one of the few remaining places in Harris County where people can experience natural quiet without the constant sound of traffic or surrounding development in any direction.

In addition, we also actively run several hundred head of cattle through this area.

So a road would require us to cross livestock horses of the cowboys over it several times a year.

Go ahead and wrap up.

And we also one of the things my dad brought to my attention is there is also during this that section, there is a old abandoned gypsum mine shaft.

Um that is there.

It does have a temporary kind of concrete slab over it, but again, that would be another thing that would have to be investigated.

Um also as the CPC that they uh they have all of their conservation projects, which we also support.

I won't go into all of those again.

So I respectfully ask that the extension of Jack Road be removed from consideration and that traffic instead continue around the perimeter of Warren Ranch rather than through the center.

Thank you very much.

Great.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate you coming in.

Our next speaker, I just have one name, Juliet.

Ah let her fix the table for you there.

There you go.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Hi, I'm hi, I'm Juliet Jewart Warren, and I am the sixth generation of the Warren family.

I would love to preserve this land for future generations.

If this road goes through, it could be harmful to people, livestock, and wildlife.

If we do this, there will be one to two times more pollution.

Thank you so much for your time.

Well, young I we appreciate you coming in and sharing your thoughts with us today.

Continue to do this, all right.

Very good.

Thank you so much.

Okay, our next speaker is Elisa Donovan.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, good afternoon.

Um, I'm also with the Coastal Prairie Conservancy, and it's been a real pleasure to serve with this organization.

Um, I just want to acknowledge the planning work that um you guys have to undertake.

There's a lot of growth in Waller County and Harris County, and it's occurring surrounding 360 all the way around the Katy Prairie Preserve.

And when I look at the map, I understand there's a need for mobility, but to me, the the fundamental question is should we route um around the Katy Prairie Preserve, or do we really need to direct traffic through the center of the preserve?

To me, the answer is clear.

We have development and the development areas can you know bear the burden of their own traffic inside the Katy Prairie Preserve.

There's no use for additional um lanes or traffic.

We have quiet country roads.

These might be the last quiet country roads in the area.

I look forward 20, 30, 40, 50 years down, and there's not going to be anywhere where you can have a nice quiet, slow drive through the country.

You look to the right and the left, you might see cows, you might see birds.

It's gonna be the only place in this region, and that's true to the foresight of people that came before me that founded the um Katy Prairie Conservancy, now the Coastal Prairie Conservancy.

Um neighborhoods, the people that have come out there, they actually came out because they want to be next to these rural areas.

They were attracted by that rural way of life.

So actually, keeping the quiet country roads and that rural way of life is supporting the development.

That's um a benefit that the entire community uh enjoys.

Um Houston does get a bad rap.

You know, we tend to pave and develop, and this is one of the areas where you as planters have an opportunity to save some land where it's not a series of developed um businesses, all kinds of other uses, and we can keep that green space and that quality of life that people might want when they come and move to Houston and certainly when they move out to Harris and Waller County.

We thank our supporters for coming out today.

I think everyone's done a great job of announcing the benefits and the reasons we have conserved this land and we appreciate your support too.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

That is the last speaker I have.

Is there anyone else that wishes to speak?

Yeah, yes, please come forward.

State your name for the record for us.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jeremy Katusak.

I would like to start by just thanking you all for having this platform available for us to come and learn about what developments are being planned.

Originally I was not going to speak on support.

I fully support the CPC and their amendments, but I did not feel the need to add to all of the great things they have to say.

Going through the process of sitting here and hearing about the different developments being planned, I can't help but say we need to take a holistic view at what's going on.

Small changes, small additions can very quickly lead into greater expansions.

It's a slippery slope, and I urge the commission to continue doing a fantastic job in taking that holistic view.

Thank you.

We appreciate that.

Thanks for coming in and speaking today.

So I have no other speakers left to speak.

Is there anyone that wishes to?

Okay.

I'll close a public hearing and I want to close with a comment, Mary.

And I know you don't recognize me, but back in like 2009 or 10, somewhere around there, you came onto a property that we were developing down south of West Park Tollway, like Sabella Terra, and you all took wildflowers.

Yeah.

It's been a while, yes.

Thank you.

Thank you all for what you do.

Okay.

So now we're going to go to room and Roman numeral four.

Next steps.

So next steps, um, staff will be coordinating with the applicants and agencies and will present updates and revisions to amendment requests that may come out from review on August 20th.

That's scheduled at 1 p.m.

here at City Hall Annex.

Um and Planning Commission will then act on each amendment request at the following meeting.

That's on September 3rd.

It's also here at 1 p.m.

at the City Hall Annex.

Um and then the recommendations from that meeting will then be forwarded to City Council for action by September 30th, which will then conclude this year's um MTFP amendment process.

Great, thank you.

Um commissioners, if you don't have any questions, we'll go to public comment.

No questions.

Any other uh public comment?

Okay.

Hearing none, then we will adjourn at 1 55 p.m.

Thank you so much.