Found My Favorite Part Of Cypress

[mrfootball]

I went exploring the other day and I didn't realize how nice it was back there in the backroads off Grant Rd and Cypress Rosehill. Miles and miles of wooded estate-size lots (mostly 1-10 acre) with big palacial custom homes, mini horse farms, there's even a fly-in/fly-out and a waterski lake neighborhood. Lots of tree-lined winding roads, pastures and forests. I like the idea of having a large enough lot that you don't necessarily have to see your neighbors. It's really nice back there, peaceful.

[Trae]

No neighbor-seeing? I would hate that. I like being able to see everyone from my driveway.

[MidtownCoog]

There are some pretty parts out there. My wife's friend is selling their house off Cypress Rosehill.

http://www.har.com/6139043

[Mom22Blessings]

CR is the road I take to get back to my house from Cypress. There are alot more cars on it now than there used to be though....

[PureAuteur]

Yeah, that is a nice drive out that way. I love how you can see the geographic separation line between the forest areas and the prairie areas out there. You don't even need a compass if you get lost, just follow the trees. Isn't Dyess Park out there somewhere? I used to play soccer there when I was a kid.

[Mom22Blessings]

Dyess is off Telge at Kitzman road (Tomball ISD)

[mumbles]

Nice place, too bad they are selling for commercial property.

There are some pretty parts out there. My wife's friend is selling their house off Cypress Rosehill.

http://www.har.com/6139043

[Mom22Blessings]

The park is selling? Nothing is out there!

[Fairmom]

Yes, that area is really peaceful NOW, but the Grand Parkway segment F will cut a swath through the area eventually. Even if all those loud voices of opposition in Spring manage to stop or alter the project, I think the sections between 1-10, up through 290 and on to 249 will definitely happen.

http://www.grandpky.com/segments/f-1/

[KinkaidAlum]

That H.A.R. listing was sick.

Half of the pictures were of Wal-Marts, strip centers, and surface parking lots. That is what ALL of Cypress will be shortly.

[Mom22Blessings]

That's just stupid. If they want the land they will get it through eminent domain. They definately won't pay 800K for a house worth much less than 100. that project is probably 10 years away.

[mrfootball]

That H.A.R. listing was sick.

Half of the pictures were of Wal-Marts, strip centers, and surface parking lots. That is what ALL of Cypress will be shortly.

Kinkaid, you're clueless.

That property backs up to commercial that lines right up on 290. The area I'm talking about is a huge area several miles North of 290.

[cynative]

That property backs up to commercial that lines right up on 290. The area I'm talking about is a huge area several miles North of 290.

The HAR property linked above is between Huffmeister and Fenske, and does not back up to the commercial properties on 290, nor does it touch the area of the propsed Grand Parkway. It is sort of in between the two, and that is a ridiculous price.

[MidtownCoog]

That side of town is doomed until they find a fix for 290.

[cynative]

There are some things that could be done immediately, but TXDOT won't listen when I tell them.

Add a feeder between Huffmeister and 1960 on the eastbound side of 290. (or if not, then a continuous merge lane) They told me that if and when that happens the landowners in front of it have to pay for the feeder!

Second, on the westbound side, add an additional continuous merge lane between the hollister entrance and fairbanks exit, and also between the fairbanks entrance and gessner exit.

These two things would make a huge difference, because these are the bottleneck places.

Eventually Barker Cypress is going to need a 'woodlands parkway' type ramp from westbound 290 to southbound Barker Cypress. There will be over 200,000 people on that side within a short time. It is already to the point of ridiculous.

The timing of lights at the spring cypress and cypress rosehill feeder intersections are not right either.

Oh well, they won't listen to anyone. I don't know what good it does to go to their meetings - they don't really want our input even though we drive it everyday and know how to fix it.

[MidtownCoog]

Good ideas. I used to commute from downtown to Compaq on Skinner Rd. and it was getting nasty even back then.

What's drawing that many people out that way? I am amazed at the growth.

[cynative]

What draws them? Brand new schools everywhere. All new neighborhoods with parks, etc. The Berry Center - where it appears there will be concerts, events, etc. (CFISD is now in the entertainment venue business!) Cy Fair College/good library. Proximity to the country (or what's left of it). I don't really know. I've always liked it myself, so other than these things, I'm not sure.

[Mom22Blessings]

Well I was really surprised the CFISD schools didn't perform better with the TAKS test last year. (2 Sundays ago Chronicle) I compared several areas and 80% of the elementary schools in The Woodlands scored 99-100 on most if not every subject area.

There were only a couple of CFISD schools that got exemplary status. When I was in CFISD it seemed to have better education than it does now. They are focusing on the wrong things. My BIL won't even put my neice in the public school there because they are zoned to Cy-Ridge. I don't know if there is any truth to this but I also heard they bus kids in from the less desireable areas to the newer schools.

[Fairmom]

There are some things that could be done immediately, but TXDOT won't listen when I tell them.

The timing of lights at the spring cypress and cypress rosehill feeder intersections are not right either.

It would be great if they could connect business 290 to the light at skinner and 290 to allow all of the folks heading south on Fry to bypass the Spring Cypress and Cypress Rosehill lights on the outbound side. I pass there everyday and can't believe the back up. Also can't believe that more folks don't exit at Mueschke and u-turn back to fry. Oops, just gave away my secret to getting around all that mess.

[cynative]

Ever notice the line of traffic on the inbound feeder at the Barker Cypress light? They go down and u-turn at Skinner to come back up and turn south on B-C. Don't blame them, the back up on the outbound side is unreal. The freeway traffic even slows there because so many are trying to get off there. The same thing is coming for the southbound Fry traffic. It's already awful with those two lights, and like you said the Skinner dead end could be rerouted around to the old highway to help too.

I don't know how much TxDot pays these consulting firms to help them decide things, but they could ask anyone who drives 290 everyday and get it for free. It wouldn't take much to figure this out!

[CDeb]

What's drawing that many people out that way? I am amazed at the growth.

Cheap land, zero crime, good schools.

That's enough for a lot of people.

There are some things that could be done immediately, but TXDOT won't listen when I tell them.

Add a feeder between Huffmeister and 1960 on the eastbound side of 290. (or if not, then a continuous merge lane) They told me that if and when that happens the landowners in front of it have to pay for the feeder!

Second, on the westbound side, add an additional continuous merge lane between the hollister entrance and fairbanks exit, and also between the fairbanks entrance and gessner exit.

These two things would make a huge difference, because these are the bottleneck places.

Eventually Barker Cypress is going to need a 'woodlands parkway' type ramp from westbound 290 to southbound Barker Cypress. There will be over 200,000 people on that side within a short time. It is already to the point of ridiculous.

The timing of lights at the spring cypress and cypress rosehill feeder intersections are not right either.

Oh well, they won't listen to anyone. I don't know what good it does to go to their meetings - they don't really want our input even though we drive it everyday and know how to fix it.

They're probably reluctant to do some of those things because the whole freeway will eventually be rebuilt. Of course, I agree with you that low cost solutions should be done anyway.

[MidtownCoog]

The days of wildlife sitings are coming to an end.

I once saw a panther/cougar/some-kind of cat on the side of the road directy behind the Compaq building eating some road kill. It was black so I guess it was not a cougar.

During lunch we'd take a drive north then west through aceres and acers of corn fields that eventually would hit the backside of Fairfield. There was one old house who proudly flew the confederate flag right out in the middle of nowhere.

I bet that's all houses now.

[PureAuteur]

What makes Cypress so wonderful is how peaceful and natural it is. If the population starts to explode, followed by new freeways, it eventually becomes connected to the rest of the suburban sprawl around 1960. Then the area begins to become less homogenous, property values decrease, etc. Cypress should incorporate to protect themselves from being completely ruined and to protect the natural landscape and wildlife from developers. It is actually a significant geographic area. I'm just hoping that a recession in the Houston economy will slow the growth out there. It's very sad that a once serene stretch of 290 was invaded by Wal-Mart and other giant strip centers.

[mrfootball]

Well I was really surprised the CFISD schools didn't perform better with the TAKS test last year. (2 Sundays ago Chronicle) I compared several areas and 80% of the elementary schools in The Woodlands scored 99-100 on most if not every subject area.

The whole concept of teaching for tests is somewhat controversial. Some districts have abandoned traditional teaching in order to simply teach the test. It has completely changed the game with regards to school ratings. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the current administration's "No Child Left Behind" policy , which is simply a modification of UNESCO's "Goals 2000" program (google that). I'd like to see Texas schools reject this idiotic program.

There are good areas and bad areas in every district. Cy-Fair's "bad" areas aren't nearly as bad as other school districts as there are really nice neighborhoods located in every part of the district and CFISDs reputation of sparing no expense on their schools. Most of the elementary schools around here (Longwood, Coles Crossing, Rock Creek, Lakewood) are Exemplary and when we moved here a few years ago, our schools were Exemplary K-12. There was no shortage of (E) rated schools in CFISD. It has flip-flopped over the past year with Katy ISD, but the two always seem to do this. Still remains one of the best - despite the new ratings system.

>>PS - you have to take those Chronicle ratings with a huge grain of salt. Just look at the 'unbelieveble' ratings they gave to all of those Aldine schools. Red flag's going up, everywhere.<<

[Mom22Blessings]

Isn't Lakewood in TISD?

[hbcu]

all it has done is draw people back to the country...to me personally, looking at some of the cracker jack houses they've built out there I don't see much longterm value

yes, a part of Cy-Fair ISD inside the beltway is heavily minority and they send them to Cy-Ridge for odd reasons when Jersey Village is the first school once you corss the beltway... but also...there are plenty of hidden trailer parks off Cypress North Houston and those kids go to Cy-Fair or Creek

[mrfootball]

Mom, the biggest part of Lakewood Forest is in CFISD. Faulkey Gulley is the boundary line.

[mrfootball]

Other than the schools, I think the best thing about Cypress is the variety of choices. Close-In, Country, Suburban, Exurban, Wooded, Prairie, Lake, etc).

There are really nice neighborhoods in and around Jersey Village and Lakes on Eldridge that are somewhat 'close-in' and have relatively good access to the city.

There are peaceful country lane communities with big custom homes, horse stables - even some fly-in/fly-out & waterski communities.

There are heavily wooded master-planned communities with really nice homes, parks, and pools like you'd find in The Woodlands.

There are sculpted-prairie communities like you find in Cinco Ranch and Katy.

There are lakeside communities like you'd find in Katy, Sugar Land.

There are secluded gated communities like you find in Memorial.

There are massive country estates

There are cozy golf-course communities

There are big master-planned communities with everything you need like splashpads, schools, trails, ponds, etc.

There are affordable starter-home communities with Cracker Jack houses

There are established old charming neighborhoods.

Some 700,000 people live in CFISD, with more coming. If we were our own city we'd be one of the biggest in Texas. There are lots of choices, lots of variety.

[T 2 THA C]

Well I was really surprised the CFISD schools didn't perform better with the TAKS test last year. (2 Sundays ago Chronicle) I compared several areas and 80% of the elementary schools in The Woodlands scored 99-100 on most if not every subject area.

There were only a couple of CFISD schools that got exemplary status. When I was in CFISD it seemed to have better education than it does now. They are focusing on the wrong things. My BIL won't even put my neice in the public school there because they are zoned to Cy-Ridge. I don't know if there is any truth to this but I also heard they bus kids in from the less desireable areas to the newer schools.

I went to Cy Springs and it was a nice school back then, but my stepmom recentley moved her kids from Friendswood and they said that school was run down, and eventually transfered to Cinco Ranch. I went to Summer School @ Cy Ridge and I remember hearing the same thang about the less desireable areas being zoned to Cy-Ridge. I also remember alot of students being aressted for popping and selling xanax(BARZ).

[psilverot]

It sucks for the people who live in Lakes on Eldridge and Twin lakes. Both are very decent communities and both are zoned to Cy-Ridge. Cy-Ridge really isn't that bad of a school. Overall Cy-fair ISD is one of the best school district in the Houston area PErIoD!!!

I went to Cy Springs and it was a nice school back then, but my stepmom recentley moved her kids from Friendswood and they said that school was run down, and eventually transfered to Cinco Ranch. I went to Summer School @ Cy Ridge and I remember hearing the same thang about the less desireable areas being zoned to Cy-Ridge. I also remember alot of students being aressted for popping and selling xanax(BARZ).