Does Houston need an Urban Growth Boundary?

[LarryDierker]

With the exburban office boom and the Grand Parkway there is bound to be new neighborhoods, big box stores, master planned communities, apartment complexes ,and strip malls that will pop up even furhter out. I've been wondering when does it stop?

Will the growth have a major impact on ecosystems and the environment?

 

Does Houston need an Urban Growth Boundary?

Where should it's boundaries be?

When should it be implemented?

[towerjunkie]

Well, I don't really think it will ever stop or at least in the foreseeable future. As long as Houston is getting praised by national entities as boom town and maintains its strong economy, people will continue to move here and with population growth comes more sprawl and  basically the grand parkway will be filled with a bunch of development. As for the next question of course, no matter what or where it happens urban growth will always impact ecosystems and environments even if its to a minimal scale because well lets face it not everyone cares about a prairie as much as they care about scarce wetlands or piney woods. In terms of creating an urban boundary, that's hard to say. I think if people are forced into a certain area or within a certain area they wont want to move here unless its the area is improved and those developments do add to the city's revenue. However, they do hurt the environment and come with their own problems as well. So with that being said I think it's both ways there are both pros and cons to having one and not having one.

[Ross]

In a word, no. All growth limits do is raise the price of housing.

[august948]

Yes. We need to put a boundry on the growth of urbanization.

[Montrose1100]

Remember those maps that came out a few years ago saying Houston will be apart of two giant metros. The "Gulf" one went all the way to New Orleans, and of course the Texas Triangle. I don't think we'll see it in our life times but who knows. I think the development will be pushed out even further but look how expansive the LA Metro is. We will have these satellite cities that will continue to grow and be their own centers of entertainment, shopping, and employment (The Woodlands, Sugar Land). And they will eventually have "suburbs" of their own. Which they already kind of do. When I worked in the Woodlands more than 60% of my co-workers commuted from Conroe.

[august948]

Remember those maps that came out a few years ago saying Houston will be apart of two giant metros. The "Gulf" one went all the way to New Orleans, and of course the Texas Triangle. I don't think we'll see it in our life times but who knows. I think the development will be pushed out even further but look how expansive the LA Metro is. We will have these satellite cities that will continue to grow and be their own centers of entertainment, shopping, and employment (The Woodlands, Sugar Land). And they will eventually have "suburbs" of their own. Which they already kind of do. When I worked in the Woodlands more than 60% of my co-workers commuted from Conroe.

 

So we already have urban growth boundriies...the Rio Grande, the Gulf, the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic.

 

[IronTiger]

Yeah, there's a cap to growth in the southeast, and sooner or later, Houston's boundaries will be physically hemmed in, with suburbs blocking it in every direction, like Dallas. Unfortunately, even greenbelts and large urban parks (like George Bush Park) means that subdivisions will still grow like cancer, only farther away from the cores. The only way to stop or reverse growth would be something drastic, like raise taxes dramatically and/or torpedo the economy, but both, obviously, aren't preferable options.

[lockmat]

Remember those maps that came out a few years ago saying Houston will be apart of two giant metros. The "Gulf" one went all the way to New Orleans, and of course the Texas Triangle. I don't think we'll see it in our life times but who knows. I think the development will be pushed out even further but look how expansive the LA Metro is. We will have these satellite cities that will continue to grow and be their own centers of entertainment, shopping, and employment (The Woodlands, Sugar Land). And they will eventually have "suburbs" of their own. Which they already kind of do. When I worked in the Woodlands more than 60% of my co-workers commuted from Conroe.

 

Ventura to San Diego is a 3 hour drive and is constant urbanism.

[Ross]

Yeah, there's a cap to growth in the southeast, and sooner or later, Houston's boundaries will be physically hemmed in, with suburbs blocking it in every direction, like Dallas. Unfortunately, even greenbelts and large urban parks (like George Bush Park) means that subdivisions will still grow like cancer, only farther away from the cores. The only way to stop or reverse growth would be something drastic, like raise taxes dramatically and/or torpedo the economy, but both, obviously, aren't preferable options.

 

Houston can block incorporation in its ETJ, so the chances of being hemmed in like Dallas are much smaller. And the ETJ is huge http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Annexation/docs_pdfs/etj_city_11x8.pdf

 

[Trae]

Remember those maps that came out a few years ago saying Houston will be apart of two giant metros. The "Gulf" one went all the way to New Orleans, and of course the Texas Triangle. I don't think we'll see it in our life times but who knows. I think the development will be pushed out even further but look how expansive the LA Metro is. We will have these satellite cities that will continue to grow and be their own centers of entertainment, shopping, and employment (The Woodlands, Sugar Land). And they will eventually have "suburbs" of their own. Which they already kind of do. When I worked in the Woodlands more than 60% of my co-workers commuted from Conroe.

This is what happened in DFW. If you live north of the Bush Turnpike, you don't work in Dallas. Suburbs like Plano and Frisco and McKinney have spawned suburbs like Prosper, Celina, and Melissa. And it just keeps going north.