Tomball reviews draft comprehensive plan; residents object to commercial/warehouse near Cherry Pines

A consultant presented a draft comprehensive plan to the joint City Council and Planning & Zoning Commission on April 7, and staff said they will revise the future land-use map and related text after public comment and the bodies’ discussion.

Greg Gilbert, a Cherry Pines resident, used the meeting’s public-comment period to oppose a commercial/warehouse designation for property immediately south of his subdivision. “We came here to live here for Tomball, not for a warehouse,” Gilbert said, adding that a multistory concrete building could sit “as close as 15 feet from the backyard” of nearby homes and be “lighting 24 hours a day.” He asked the city to “reconsider how the future use of that land … would be best utilized.”

Alexis Garcia, a planner with Freese & Nichols, gave the presentation and described the document as “a comprehensive plan [that] is a high level visioning document. It's supposed to be guiding growth and development for the city over the next 20 years or so.” Garcia said the draft is intended to guide zoning and subdivision rules and to be updated every five to 10 years.

Key revisions shown in the draft include a clearer split between medium-density and high-density residential on the future land-use map, a new mixed-use designation outside Old Town, and focused study areas labeled East Downtown and the Medical District. Garcia said the draft separates high-density housing…