The current discussions by Jersey Village City Council about a $20 Million Bond Election have prompted a lot of comments by residents concerned about property taxes and questions about spending in general by those elected to office. Below are comments selected that provide details of previous actions by JVCC and some of the events that may have prompted those actions. It is always appropriate for the taxpayers to understand the reasoning that may have been used by JVCC when they took certain actions, but it is very important to do a “gut-check” to see how actual events have played out to determine if the plan has any merit in today’s world. If their assumptions were not correct when they spent millions on a project and presented a lot of “This will be great for JV!”, why do we believe them now? There is a phrase that goes like this – “Don’t throw more money into a failure to try to buy success!”
The comments below are very instructive to read:
Simon Hughes Jersey Village • 6 Aug
Bond Election? Three years ago today, the City approved the first purchase of 23.34 acres south of 290 at a cost of $5.25 million. The raw land was to be used for a new development to generate tax revenue. The City subsequently purchased an adjacent 10.56 acres at a cost of $2.95 million. In May of 2019, the City announced it struck a deal with Collaborate to build “Village Center”. Delays occurred, which were attributed to Covid. In May of this year, Collaborate announced it would be purchasing the land and breaking ground on the retail, office, and medical office buildings in June, July, and August, with multi-family, and hospitality to follow. It appears those projected events are not happening. In a recent phone conversation, the Mayor admitted the “working group” was still waiting on an update from Collaborate, and he could not state when, or if, the project would move forward. City Council’s budget reveals it is considering a bond election to raise up to $20 million dollars for slated capital improvements, including a new city hall, new golf course clubhouse, and other significant projects. Is it time now to admit that “Village Center” has proven itself not to be viable, sell the land, and use the proceeds to invest in necessary city infrastructure? Or, should the city take on more debt and/or raise taxes?
Sheila Harrison • Jersey Village
Remember, the whole concept of the Village Center started when the JV City leaders thought we might become a stop on the proposed High Speed train and the area was to be called Jersey Crossing which would have been a good reason to develop that area. Since that failed (the High Speed Rail Line will not use our rail line) it seems that they are just scratching around for any reason they can to proceed with the development. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jerseyvillagetx.com%2Fupload%2Fpage%2F0068%2Fdocs%2F2018_August_Special.pdf&clen=704669&chunk=true
Simon Hughes • Jersey Village
When the form based zoning was enacted in 2011, was it anticipated the transit oriented development was to support light rail (extensions of the metro service) or the Texas high speed rail?
Geoff Butler • Jersey Village
Simon Hughes commuter rail, similar to light rail but with a higher passenger capacity and covering a greater distance. http://www.gcrd.net/docs/map.Hempstead.pdf
Thanks Jeff – So was that commuter rail potentially in the works back in 2010/2011 when the TOD was originally envisioned? I am aware the high speed rail project between Houston and Dallas began in 2009. I have never never understood which rail project prompted the City to consider creating a TOD. Maybe Hamley, Erskine, Haverty, Klein, Maloy, or one of the others who was on Council at that time, could state their recollection.
Simon Hughes I’m pretty sure it was the commuter rail proposal that drove the creation of the TOD ordinance. The folks you mentioned can better comment on the City’s intentions at that time. I do know that the JV’s TOD was a consideration by the various DOTs when the Hempstead commuter rail option was being studied. See page 43 of this document from 2012: http://www.gcrd.net/docs/Final%20Report%20February%202012.pdf
Good background info. It’s crazy to see that 2012 paper state (as to Jersey Village Crossing): “Project construction has already begun and Phase 1 will be complete by 2019.” Someone must have really been embellishing the progress/projected completion of JVC/VC.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett when he first took office planned to work to get commuter light rail constructed along the south side of US290 from Northwest Mall out towards the City of Waller or even further west. The original commuter light rail plan did not show that there would be a stop at Jones Rd and US290. The planed light rail stop in the Jersey Village area was going to be located further west of or further east of where the at that time Jersey Village government was hoping it would be selected to be placed. The at that time Jersey Village government worked to try and get the light rail stop relocated to the Jones Rd US290 location and had spent an estimated 6 hundred thousand or more dollars hiring a consultant to do a 3 phased study to create a conceptual plan for a Transit Oriented Development that would be located and developed south of US290 along the east and west sides of the Jones Rd extension. The light rail never got constructed. There has been for many years a desire by determined individuals that have been able to get elected to city council positions to work to expand the square mile size of the city. A years past Jersey Village government maybe during the 1980’s was able to obtain the rights to have a 704 acre area of land designated as Extra-Territorial Land Jurisdiction for the city. The land area that I am talking about starts just south of US290 and continues south to FM529, it’s western boundary is Harms Rd and it’s eastern boundary is east of the Jones Rd extension heading towards the FM529 US290 depressed down below ground elevation intersections. A past Jersey Village government many years ago chose to locate the city’s Public Works Facilities over on the south side of U290 on Taylor Rd to continue working towards establishing a foothold in continuing the desire to eventually provide the required infrastructure to be able to annex and incorporate all of that land area as part of The City of Jersey Village.
Mark, Thanks for the detailed explanation on the history. It’s very helpful in understanding how the City got to where it is today.