Info or Missouri City’s Comprehensive Plan Update Contributed by Citizen Congress

Additional Citizen Input Opportunities to be Announced

by Elsa Malakoff Maxey
More sidewalks for pedestrians connecting residents, a trolley car system in the city with routes to commercial centers, road access from neighborhoods to major thoroughfares…these are among the topics of the transportation and infrastructure session of the Citizen Congress in Missouri City, which met on February 12th at the Community Center. The two other group sessions held that evening addressed growth and development, and amenities and image.
“We’re updating our comprehensive plan for the city,” says Ornita Green, Director of Planning, “and the information we will be receiving from citizens along the way will serve to guide Missouri City’s future growth and development for the next 20 years.”
Mayor Allen Owen opened the session of the Citizen Congress and emphasized the importance of citizen input for the city’s future growth and development.
Gary Mitchell, Principal of the KENDIG KEAST consultant group, which is assisting in the comprehensive plan update, presented an overview of the plan development process, which will take 14 months to complete. “We are working with citizen groups and we will hear common and recurring areas of interest and concern, also priorities for the future of Missouri City,” shares Mitchell, “both short term and long term.” The feedback from the sessions “is indicative of people looking ahead, people who have made a decision to purposely pick Missouri City in which to live, and there are certain things that they do not want to lose as it gets bigger,” he adds.

“I saw the citizens genuinely interested in the future of their city, a place where many of them are raising their families and they should have a final say about what the city needs to focus on,” says Bobby Marshall, Chairman of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, which was appointed by the City Council. Marshall said that a report based on the Citizen Congress will be presented to the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee and also to the Planning and Zoning Commission. There will be other citizen meetings during the year for the plan update process.

Future citizen input opportunities also include a community open house, scheduled to occur in October. A final comprehensive plan for Missouri City will then be presented to City Council for adoption towards the end of 2008.

Details on future meetings will be announced. Interested persons are asked to visit the Missouri City’s website at http://www.ci.mocity.tx.us/ for more information or they may call 281/403-8500.
(l-r) Missouri City Director of Planning Ornita Green, Councilmember Cynthia Gary, Earl Washington, Tom Wilcox, Bill Odle, Ron Lee, and Bob Temple are among the participants of the recent Citizen Congress held in Missouri City. Future citizen input opportunities for the City’s comprehensive plan update will be announced. The citizen input is part of the process for the plan update, which will address the City’s future growth and development for the next 20 years.
Morris Mitchell, who serves on the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, took a moment to chat with Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen before the general session of the recent Citizen Congress. Topics for discussion during the public meeting about the City’s comprehensive plan update were categorized into three major group sessions that evening. The groups addressed transportation and infrastructure, growth and development, and amenities and image.