by Nicole Bradford
Almost three years in the making, the Pearland 2040 plan earned initial approval this month as the city’s playbook for the next few decades.
Pearland City Council on June 24 approved the first of two readings to adopt the city’s new comprehensive plan, a move that was postponed in November for more tweaks and feedback.
The second and final approval of the comprehensive plan is set for the council’s July 8 meeting.
Updated every five to 10 years, a comprehensive plan is used by cities to guide future development and set long-range goals. Pearland first adopted one in 1968 and last updated it in 2015. The newest update was contracted to the firm Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc.
Public input on the plan included 33 public meetings and 1,213 surveys.
The new plan lists three main strategies: encouraging middle-market housing, updating the city’s development codes, and planning the development of the Lower Kirby District.
Before the June 24 approval, Councilman Clint Byrom expressed concern that the comprehensive plan includes goals regarding transit planning and connections.
“I was asked multiple times during my campaign for council about my perspective on public transit and busing,” he said. “Every person I talked to had no interest in a busing system, metro system, park and ride system, public transportation system. Nor do I.”
Having transit buses on the roads, he said, would take away from Pearland’s small-town character that residents want to preserve.
A mobility study being completed via the Houston-Galveston Area Council is expected to be finished in another month or two, City Manager Trent Epperson said.
“What we’ve seen through public input in that process is no desire for any intra-city bus system,” he said, “but there is some interest in potential park and rides, paratransit and possible micro transit for people who qualify from a needs standpoint — that’s the only areas the plan focuses on.”
More information on the plan is available at pearland2040.com.
