Mayor expected to attend town hall event

CIP, city budget matters, funding on Northpark Drive project to be discussed

Much of the Feb. 23 District E Town Hall meeting will focus specifically on the Capital Improvement Plan, and howit will affect the residents in the Kingwood Community.

Houston City Councilman Dave Martin will host the meeting, his first since his reelection to the District E seat in November.

The mayor also is expected to attend.

“We have just confirmed that Mayor (Sylvester) Turner is expected to attend the meet- ing and address the audience about city budget-related mat- ters,” said Lauren Laake, Martin’s chief of staff.

Laake also said the Public Works and Engineering and Rebuild Houston will be giving an overview of their department and program.

Houston Parks Board officials also will share an update on the Bayou Greenways 2020, and the Planning Department

will present an overview of Plan Houston Master Plan aswell as the Bike Houston Plan.

Meanwhile, Stan Sarman, chairman of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 10 and the Kingwood Mobility Steering Committee, is expected to share updated information on the work in obtaining funding mechanisms for key segments of Northpark Drive, one of the key traffic arteries related to the Kingwood Mobility Study that was completed in April 2015.

Since the study concluded earlier this year, Sarman and others have held discussions about the issue of funding with other entities such as Montgomery and Harris counties, the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the Texas Department of Transportation, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Federal Highway Administration.

Sarman said the talks have gone well with many of the entities, and that all of the parties are trying to determine the best course of action to obtain the needed funding in order to begin the project.

Sarman said the TIRZ also has hired a financial adviser to help guide them in identifying key funding mechanism.

“A lot of these projects require a match with local city, state or federal funds and that’s what we are working on,” he said.

Additionally, Burdette Huffman, vice president of development for Lovett Commercial, will be giving an update on the new Kingwood MainStreet project that is under construction at the corner of Kingwood Drive and West Lake Houston.

He will be joined by H-E-B President Scott McClelland, who be giving a presentation as well regarding the new H-E-B that is scheduled to open in August at King wood Main-Street.

The meeting will be from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Kingwood Community Center, 4102 Rustic Woods Drive in Kingwood.