The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutFinal Report_03.02.2000_Comp Plan SteeringLAPORTE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE March 2, 2000 LaPorte Planning and Zoning Committee P.O. Box 1115 LaPorte, TX 77572-1115 Ladies and Gentlemen The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee began its work on September 29, 1998 in the form of a kick-off meeting with City staff and the Planning Consultant, Wilbur Smith Associates. After that, the Committee used the issues and ideas brought forth from the Community Forum to develop Goals and Objectives. These Goals and Objectives became the outline for the Comprehensive Plan material that was being prepared by Wilbur Smith Associates. The Committee engaged in a thorough review of all chapters of the Comprehensive Plan. This effort included 16 total Committee meetings starting in November 1998 and ending in July 1999. The Committee's comments were received by City staff and the Consultant and have been introduced into the draft Comprehensive Plan document that is before you. The Steering Committee is pleased to hereby forward our Comprehensive Plan to the Planning and Zoning Commission for addition review and consideration. This has been a rewarding opportyfiilyto participate in a fundamental part of LaPorte's future. Steve Valerius Chairman Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee La Porte... Looking into the Future La Porte ... The Minor of the Bay La Porte ... An Open Door LP2K La Porte 2000 La Porte - The Front Door of Texas La Porte - A Great Place to Live, Work and Play La Porte - Gateway to Houston We already have a slogan 60 years old. La Porte - My Kind of Town J,. Central location for business/industries but "small" residential community. A good distance from Houston but close enough too. Close proximity to the bay. Centrally located to several communities. Friendly atmosphere. "Small town" atmosphere with "big city" amenities. The people! - Amen. The churches. Not being charged a minimum water bill for water a resident doesn't use. Galveston Bay Small town/low crime rate/Galveston Bay/proximity to Houston. Close to bay - excellent City services. Excellent transportation system to downtown. No additional truck stops. Signage indicating the La Porte Main Street Shopping District and the variety of businesses in that area to promote old downtown Main Street Shopping District as a tourist/visitor stopover and lead in to museums, library, Sylvan Beach. Protect our way of living vis-a-vis neighboring communities. Abandoned buildings removed ... aggressively. (Closed down aparnnent projects) Also low cost interest renovation loans to save buildings on Main Street and other areas. I like Kroger but I would like to see a competitor. A place for our youth other than pools. A hospital. Public transportation. Improved space for Neighborhood Centers, Inc. Plant more trees. A close relationship between Neighborhood Centers and City. Clean up the curbs across from City Hall and down Fairmont. Traffic light at 8a & Fairmont Pkwy please. More focus as a wsterfropl community/resort. Demolish falling apart buildings, houses, apts. warehouses. Take pride in Main Street and promote the antique district of La Porte. Better streets in old La Porte and sidewalks. Control signs and billboards. Indoor recreation for our youth... skating rink, bowling alley. Hospital. Page I of 2 Notes for Bill Scotts' 1-14-99 talk with the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee A. Thanks for this opportunity to present our concerns to the committee. I'll condense our points of concern. 576+ La Porte Residents have signed a petition to stop ALL Phases of this highway. As a benchmark of public sentiment against the road, Only 997 residents voted in the last general City election. B. Common Sense Government: I.We are a group of residents from Lomax ,Glen Meadows, and Fairmont Park that have organized to stop Phases 1,2, and 3 of a planned highway through our front yards. in some cases our homes are very close to the road as it is now. • Background on why we are at this meeting 2. We believe the increased traffic caused by the proposed Phase I road will greatly increase the danger to people and animals as they use Lomax School Road to ride horses, walk 4-H animals, jog, bike, walk their dogs, go to schools, and generally travel in the area. 3. Lomax School Road is the community travel Hub of Lomax. We believe that stacking a large amount commuter through traffic on top of the already heavy and diversified local traffic will have a large negative impact on our local community environment safety, and property values... and of course all of the commuter traffic has to come down H St. , L St., or P St. to get to Lomax School Road. 4. The well intentioned committees of the 84' Committees apparently did not realize that IN LOMAX, STREETS ARE OUR SIDEWALKS. The ditches start at the edge of the roads and are very steep and very deep. 5. Almost the same situation exists on Farrington Blvd. in Glen Meadows and Faurnont Park. 6. Some Residents in Glen Meadows and Fairmont Park that five away from Farrington Blvd. now want this Phase 1 road as a convenience because their children have been or will be moved to Lomax Elementary,or for convenient travel to recreational events. These same people bought their homes with a known existing road structure of dead ends and Tees that were intentionally designed to control traffic, maintain their property values and to help protect their environment from crime, pollution, and dangers to their children. They strongly guard their own existing road system ...but they think it is OK to destroy our existing road system for their own convenience of saving a few minutes travel time during the period that their children attend Lomax Elementary. This is a flat out violation of property rights. Any way you slice it or dice it; this is dangerous, unfair, unethical, and just plain Wrong. Page 2 of 2 7. Joe Sease says the Phase 1 road "could have been used by the Fire Dept." 122 times in a recent app. 4 1/2 year period. However, the details of the records used to get this are not available to the public. "Could have used" has a very broad range of interpretation. I'll believe the numbers when I'm allowed to study the raw data behind them. 8. We would like You tell us what will it take to have All 3 phases of this road removed from the comprehensive plan... more petition signatures? more people at your meetings to present facts and evidence? pickets? lawyers? C. Your input, even ifjust "brain storming" has far reaching serious impacts on the community... and some of these impacts have a very negative effect on many citizens. Case in point: The Knoxs and the Scotts. D. Project Operations Procedures 1. P.1- Avoid serving special interests 2. P.2- Most importantly, the stated goals, objectives, ...etc. 3. P.4- Effective mechanisms for citizen involvement are essential. 4. P.5- Steering Committee is only a Focus group for public participation. 5. P.5- Interview meeting with community leaders 6. P.6- Provide a broad basis of citizen involvement 7. P.7- Community Visioning Workshop.... purpose of the first meeting W Q.L BE to involve a large number of citizens in the identification of issues and needs, development of goals and objectives... E. Speeding, safety of our kids, no growth Committee Committee Members Roy Baldwin Chester Pool 3526 Gladwyne 1710 Alvy La Porte, TX 77571 La Porte, TX 77571 281.930.1441 281.470.1506 (w) 281.471.7700 (h) David Brady cp2628@sbc.com 3210 Bayou La Porte, TX 77571 Imogene Pulleine P.O. Box 755 Deotis Gay 116 Sylvan 214 North 91" Street La Porte, TX 77572-0755 La Porte, TX 77571 Blass@prodigy.com Peter Griffiths John Tomerlin 10034 Quiet Hill 3211 Lary Pine LaPorte, TX 77571 La Porte, TX 77571 281.470.8483 (h) 713.569.3177 (m) Steve Valerius pegdffiths@spdntmail.com 140 Hazel LaPorte, TX 77571 Barbara Jenks 713.868.6406 (w) P.O. Box 998 281.470.1571 (h) 1001 Highway 146 stevev@hmi.net La Porte TX 77571 281.228.5735 Betty Waters 2202 2Vi Street Martha Love La Porte, TX 77571 9 Bay Harbor 281.471.1907 La Porte, TX 77571 281.471.2018 Gary Wigginton P.O. Box 347 Brian Moore 1250 Strang Road 530 Broadway La Porte, TX 77571 La Porte, TX 77571 281.470.3211 (w) 281.286.2150 (h) Pat Muston 117 Garfield John Paul Zemanek LaPorte, TX 77571 3102 Valleybrook 281.471.1537 La Porte, TX 77571 281.471.3961 (fax) 281.471.1426 Wilbur Smith Associates • RUST Environment & Infrastructure