by Nicole Bradford
After 20 residents spoke on the need for more housing options in Pearland, a proposed McHard Road townhome complex at Adamo Lane came closer to reality Monday evening.
A townhome proposal at 8210 McHard received a favorable recommendation for a needed zone change from the Pearland Planning and Zoning Commission. P&Z voted 6-0 to recommend the change with conditions, with Commissioner Derrell Isenberg absent.
The commission on April 7 postponed a decision to give the developer more time to accommodate a list of conditions, including building materials to be used, access to the property, and adding a water feature to required detention.
“Everything that (city) staff added as conditions, we are completely OK with,” said Andrew Allemand of Beacon Land Services. “A lot of folks understand that McHard is a growing area, but it’s not ready for a high-rise apartment complex. These are not stacked units. This is ground-entry, transitional type of development.”
To proceed, the proposal needs a zone change from suburban residential to planned development, a decision that the city council will entertain.
On Monday, nine neighboring residents expressed concerns and objections ranging from traffic to drainage.
“We already have a drainage problem and the problem with traffic flow has been brought to light,” Adamo Lane resident Robert Garner said. “This is a beautiful project; it’s just not in the right place.”
But 20 other speakers, including business owners who said their employees can’t afford to live in Pearland, supported the zone change.
“We need to offer options for people (businesses) want to hire on in the community to work as well as live there,” Kevin Hunter said.
The proposal includes 73 single-story homes with garages—an original plan for the complex called for more than 100 units.
The approximately 8-acre site has single-family residential on three sides, but the future land use plan calls for it to be higher-density residential.
