DEVELOPMENT Pearland, Friendswood development overcoming challenges, obstacles
PEARLAND’S DEVELOPMENT To aid in its development, Pearland identi ed “catalyst sites,” which are areas of undeveloped and underdeveloped land.
City limits
Catalyst sites
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PEARLAND PKWY.
BY RACHEL LELAND
they’re not paying property taxes.” Friendswood o cials hope to sustain the city’s budget by allocating 73% of the unused land for commer- cial development to collect more taxes. O cials must be strategic about zoning and how it issues new develop- ment permits, Harbin said. “We are not getting any more land; we’re landlocked,” Harbin said. “We only have 1,900 acres left to develop, so that’s all we’re getting. We just have to be careful and make sure we keep our goals in mind.” While Pearland o cials hope the city will be completely built out by 2050, McDonald said COVID-19 and higher interest rates slowed develop- ment, partially due to the higher cost of building materials. In scal year 2019-20, the number of residential permits awarded dipped to 451 from
Pearland and Friendswood are nearly built out, and the cities must carefully plan how to develop the remaining land. In 2000, Pearland was a town of roughly 40,000. More than 20 years later in 2023, the city’s population has more than tripled in size to 132,000. What was once untouched farmland is now nearly 77% built out, yet the city still needs to develop its plan for how to develop the remaining unused land, Community Development Director John McDonald said. The city’s remaining land is a mixture of undeveloped land, or untouched land, and underdeveloped land, which is land that may have a small structure on it but is now surrounded by larger developments. Smaller cities such as nearby Friend- swood, which has a population of only 42,556, face di erent challenges,
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MANVEL RD.
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SOURCE: CITY OF PEARLAND COMMUNITY IMPACT
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FRIENDSWOOD’S DEVELOPMENT
Enhanced Safety & Security Technologies S.T.R.E.A.M Synergy Before & After School Program Athletics, Quiz Bowl, Clubs and more! forward in Pearland, including Massey Oaks and the D.R. Horton planned community being built near Pearland High School. “I think the goal is just to maintain McDonald added that the growth in nearby areas will also a ect how Pearland pursues development. “You also have to look at the development around Pearland as well,” McDonald said. “You know, Manvel is starting to take o ; Alvin is starting to grow; Iowa Colony is starting to grow. As those become more of a competition, that could potentially a ect how things happen here.” McDonald said his team will present a comprehensive development plan to Pearland City Council later this year. The plan will include recommenda- tions for how the city should pursue developing the remainder of unused land over the next 20 years. McDonald shared that while a lot of the larger parcels of land have already been built out, there are many big residential projects moving
The city of Friendswood has only 1,900 acres of undeveloped land remaining.
City limits
Undeveloped land
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817 and 658 in the previous two years. While the num- ber of new devel- opment permits diminished, the pandemic years also saw an increase in permits issued for home renovations. “We saw a lot of renovation permits for residential,” McDonald said. “People who maybe had been thinking
“I THINK THE GOAL IS JUST TO MAINTAIN A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY THAT GROWS, THAT SUPPORTS ITSELF AND GROWS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF ITS CITIZENS.” JOHN MCDONALD, PEARLAND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
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such as being able to collect enough taxes to balance their budgets despite having aging communities,
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Friendswood o cials said.
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“Our population
is aging,” said Aubrey Harbin, Friendswood
SOURCE: CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD COMMUNITY IMPACT
a sustainable community that grows, that supports itself and grows to meet the needs of its citizens,” McDonald said.
director of community development and city planner. “When people reach 65, their property taxes get frozen, and
about moving out but then decided to upgrade their house or add extra features to it.”
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PEARLAND FRIENDSWOOD EDITION • AUGUST 2023
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