Woodlands Villager - News
Shenandoah hopes to reach population milestone in 2009
By JAKE MUONIO
If growth continues as city officials are projecting, Shenandoah could hit a population milestone this coming year.
“We anticipate in 2009 we will break the barrier of 5,000 people, which is a big step for small cities,” said Shenandoah City Administrator Chip VanSteenberg.
Currently, population estimates place the number of residents in the city at about 3,300.
When Shenandoah hits the 5,000-person threshold, the city will change from a general law city to a home rule city — meaning its citizens will be able to determine the specific set up of its government.
In addition, the city’s extra-territorial jurisdiction — or areas of land set aside for the city to eventually grow into — would increase from one-half mile to one mile from the city limits. City officials would also have more authority when it comes to annexation, and no longer require a landowner petition to bring a piece of land into the city limits.
The city will also be embarking on a reworking of its comprehensive plan. The document, which is used as a guide for planning and zoning decisions, hasn’t been updated for more than eight years.
“We don’t’ anticipate major changes,” VanSteenberg said. “... It will catch us up to the latest thinking among city planners and also catch us up with the development that has occurred.”
Hotels
VanSteenberg said the city plans to actively work to attract a high-quality, full-service hotel to the city — on par with The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. During this past year city leaders approved a new overlay zoning to allow hotels in several areas along Interstate 45.
“We have had a goal to get at least one high quality hotel in the city and one more medium quality hotel,” VanSteenberg said. “It turns out that was actually a very ambitious goal, but we continue to get a lot of interest. We have a lot of discussions ongoing with several different tracts of land.”
Those locations include a property next to Main Event and the land immediately south of the Sam Moon Center.
Among the possible “medium quality” hotels that could locate in the city is Holiday Inn, which looked into putting a hotel on the site of America’s Best Inn & Suites. Those talks stalled because the location’s zoning — which changed after America’s Best was constructed — does not allow for hotels.
Natatorium improvements
The additional hotel rooms may become even more important if a possible partnership between Shenandoah, The Woodlands Swim Team and Conroe Independent School District come to fruition.
The potential partnership would result in two new pools at the site of the CISD sports complex, including an outdoor pool the same size as the site’s current pool. Under the plan, CISD would provide the location for the pool and coordinate its use, Shenandoah would help with the capital to construct the facility expansion and TWST would provide a steady source of revenue through facility usage.
During the upcoming year preliminary designs of the possible expansion should be completed, after which an economic impact analysis should begin, and then a financial feasibility study.
VanSteenberg said the city would not be interested in moving forward with a project that wasn’t economically feasible for the city.
Transportation
Several of the transportation improvements on the slate for 2009 should directly benefit traffic heading to the sports complex.
The first is the opening of additional lanes at the intersection of Research Forest and I-45. Scheduled to begin this spring, the project will move a traffic light on the east side of I-45, allowing for an additional lane of traffic to travel east underneath I-45. Under the current configuration, three lanes of traffic are bottlenecked to two lanes on Research Forest Drive just before the interstate. After the work is completed the right-turn only lane will change to allow traffic to continue traveling east. Moving the same light will also open another lane of northbound traffic on the I-45 feeder road at the same intersection.
The intersection improvements will extend from I-45 east to David Memorial Drive.
The benefits of the opened-up intersection will be coupled with another improvement — realigned entrance and exit ramps between Research Forest and Texas 242. The county project, which is being paid for in part by Shenandoah, will allow traffic to exit the freeway onto the feeder just to the north of Research Forest and get back on just south of 242. Southbound traffic will be able to exit I-45 just south of 242 and re-enter north of Research Forest.
“Right now everybody has to go through that intersection,” VanSteenberg said. “If the ramp project is completed by the (football) season next year, a good amount of that traffic can skip the intersection.”
“We anticipate in 2009 we will break the barrier of 5,000 people, which is a big step for small cities,” said Shenandoah City Administrator Chip VanSteenberg.
Currently, population estimates place the number of residents in the city at about 3,300.
When Shenandoah hits the 5,000-person threshold, the city will change from a general law city to a home rule city — meaning its citizens will be able to determine the specific set up of its government.
In addition, the city’s extra-territorial jurisdiction — or areas of land set aside for the city to eventually grow into — would increase from one-half mile to one mile from the city limits. City officials would also have more authority when it comes to annexation, and no longer require a landowner petition to bring a piece of land into the city limits.
The city will also be embarking on a reworking of its comprehensive plan. The document, which is used as a guide for planning and zoning decisions, hasn’t been updated for more than eight years.
“We don’t’ anticipate major changes,” VanSteenberg said. “... It will catch us up to the latest thinking among city planners and also catch us up with the development that has occurred.”
Hotels
VanSteenberg said the city plans to actively work to attract a high-quality, full-service hotel to the city — on par with The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. During this past year city leaders approved a new overlay zoning to allow hotels in several areas along Interstate 45.
“We have had a goal to get at least one high quality hotel in the city and one more medium quality hotel,” VanSteenberg said. “It turns out that was actually a very ambitious goal, but we continue to get a lot of interest. We have a lot of discussions ongoing with several different tracts of land.”
Those locations include a property next to Main Event and the land immediately south of the Sam Moon Center.
Among the possible “medium quality” hotels that could locate in the city is Holiday Inn, which looked into putting a hotel on the site of America’s Best Inn & Suites. Those talks stalled because the location’s zoning — which changed after America’s Best was constructed — does not allow for hotels.
Natatorium improvements
The additional hotel rooms may become even more important if a possible partnership between Shenandoah, The Woodlands Swim Team and Conroe Independent School District come to fruition.
The potential partnership would result in two new pools at the site of the CISD sports complex, including an outdoor pool the same size as the site’s current pool. Under the plan, CISD would provide the location for the pool and coordinate its use, Shenandoah would help with the capital to construct the facility expansion and TWST would provide a steady source of revenue through facility usage.
During the upcoming year preliminary designs of the possible expansion should be completed, after which an economic impact analysis should begin, and then a financial feasibility study.
VanSteenberg said the city would not be interested in moving forward with a project that wasn’t economically feasible for the city.
Transportation
Several of the transportation improvements on the slate for 2009 should directly benefit traffic heading to the sports complex.
The first is the opening of additional lanes at the intersection of Research Forest and I-45. Scheduled to begin this spring, the project will move a traffic light on the east side of I-45, allowing for an additional lane of traffic to travel east underneath I-45. Under the current configuration, three lanes of traffic are bottlenecked to two lanes on Research Forest Drive just before the interstate. After the work is completed the right-turn only lane will change to allow traffic to continue traveling east. Moving the same light will also open another lane of northbound traffic on the I-45 feeder road at the same intersection.
The intersection improvements will extend from I-45 east to David Memorial Drive.
The benefits of the opened-up intersection will be coupled with another improvement — realigned entrance and exit ramps between Research Forest and Texas 242. The county project, which is being paid for in part by Shenandoah, will allow traffic to exit the freeway onto the feeder just to the north of Research Forest and get back on just south of 242. Southbound traffic will be able to exit I-45 just south of 242 and re-enter north of Research Forest.
“Right now everybody has to go through that intersection,” VanSteenberg said. “If the ramp project is completed by the (football) season next year, a good amount of that traffic can skip the intersection.”
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