Resident urges council to block McDonald’s site and raises Oyster Creek overgrowth concerns

A Lake Jackson resident, identified in the record as Miss Temple, used the public-comment period on Nov. 3 to oppose a proposed McDonald’s location and to raise concerns about excessive vegetation and algae in Oyster Creek.

On the proposed restaurant, Miss Temple said putting a McDonald’s at the corner in a residential area would be “detrimental to our community” and asked why developers would not use other commercial parcels with better traffic flow. Regarding the creek, she said her backyard adjoins Oyster Creek and described the waterway as choked with vegetation and algae; she said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told citizens it “can’t do anything about it.”

City staff responded that the creek work requires federal permits (Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard) and that the county had resubmitted a permit after hurricane recovery work; staff said they hope to let a contract by the end of the year and start removal after the first of the year. Staff clarified the city is limited by federal permitting on what it can remove directly from the navigable waterway.

Why it matters: The comments raise two community concerns — proposed commercial development adjacent to residential areas and the environmental/health effects of creek overgrowth — and the city’s ability to act is shaped by permitting and intergovernmental coordination. No council action was taken during public comment.