Plans for island draw ire
Number of homes planned to be built on Mitchell Island has risen, angering residents who say infrastructure can’t support that
The issue of incorporation of The Woodlands isn’t on the Nov. 3 ballot, but the topic has resurfaced after local residents were informed of a plan by the Howard Hughes Corp. to increase the number of homes planned for Mitchell Island, the lone island in the township that has sat empty for decades.
Local residents became alarmed, according to Grogan’s Mill Village Association board President Edmund Chapman, in September when they were notified that the number of homes planned is being increased from 19 estates to 58 homes with smaller lots that still cost more than $1 million each.
About 150 neighbors have signed a letter of opposition, saying that the infastructure cannot handle that number of homes, Chapman said in an email.
Among the concerns, he said, is that an American bald eagle family reside a few miles away near Hughes Landing and the increased traffic, debris and noise that construction brings.
Heath Melton, vice president of residential development and master planner communities for the Howard Hughes Corp., said he was unaware of residents’ complaints and added that they will work to respond to them.
Lack of local control
Because The Woodlands is not a city, the community has virtually no control over how plots of land are split or used. That is managed by Houston’s Planning Commission under the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction rights and Montgomery County.
The more than 16-acre island sits vacant on the eastern shores of Lake Woodlands south of Lake Woodlands Drive. A new bridge to the island was constructed in 2013, but no development has taken place. The island is the last parcel in the coveted East Shore neighborhood, west of Grogan’s Mill Road and north of The Woodlands Parkway.
Lorrie Parise, a spokesperson for the Howard Hughes Corp., said officials have plans to communicate to residents.
Muddling issues
The Woodlands is technically a special purpose district under Texas law, similar to a municipal utility district. The community has long been unincorporated but over the past 10 years, various studies of incorporation have been conducted by the township Board of Directors. The most recent studies were completed in February with an anticipated vote on the issue to be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot for residents to decide whether or not to become a city.
But those plans were scuttled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the local economy as sales tax revenue has plummeted.
One caveat in regard to the future of the island is the requirement of multiple parties to change what is called the ILUD — initial land use designation — which still requires any changes to be approved by a trio of entities, including the township’s Development
Standards Committee.
John Powers, the township’s assistant general manager for community services, sent a mass email to members of of the media as well as various township elected officials and community leaders with copies of the original ILUD and the proposed plans from the Howard Hughes Corp. that has been submitted to the city of Houston.
Mitchell Island “is encumbered with (Woodlands Community Association) Covenants and subject to DSC authority,” Powers said in the email. “The re-plat review and approval process is a multi-step process and involves multiple agencies. In addition to the city (of Houston) review, Montgomery County and DSC must also approve. We have reached out to (Howard Hughes Corp.) for additional information and will advise when received.”
The DSC is composed of seven members, four of which are from the community and appointed by the township board and another three who are direct representatives of The Woodlands Development Company, an entity that technically is being phased out by Howard Hughes, which owns it.
Walter Lisiewski, chairman of the DSC, said on Tuesday that the DSC, to his knowledge, had no role in approving the change in development plans for the island.
The planned public hearing on the re-plat by the Houston Planning Commission on Thursday was canceled; however, more than 80 local residents and other stakeholders are coordinating efforts to relay their concerns to officials.