Tomball hears $33 million gas master plan recommending new City Gate to shore up supply

TOMBALL, Texas — Tomball’s city staff and consultants presented a multi-year natural-gas master plan Tuesday that officials said is aimed at preventing repeat outages and making the system resilient as the community grows.

Diana Perosa of Engineered Utility Solutions told council the city’s modeled baseline delivery was 180 MCF per hour and the master plan models a 25% growth scenario — a 225 MCF per hour peak — that revealed vulnerabilities, particularly at the North City Gate. “The baseline was established at 180 MCF an hour,” Perosa said, and the plan models a 225 MCF an hour peak to test system performance.

The consultants identified a lack of continuous north–south and east–west arterial pipelines and the prospect that existing upstream demand (notably CenterPoint’s activity on the same lateral) can pull supply away from Tomball during cold-weather peaks. Jeff Rogers, also with the consulting team, described the North Gate issue as a supply-line reality: when the nearby larger utility draws gas from the shared line, Tomball — at the end of the lateral — can be left with insufficient pressure to serve all burner tips during a cold snap.

To address that risk the plan recommends three high-priority capital projects: a new City Gate 4 tied into a transmission trunk, a Grand Parkway interconnect to join the new gate to the existing system, and a Zion–Huffsmith interconnect to fortify the north. The consultants showed system-pressure maps that, they said, move many areas from critical pressure ranges into acceptable operating bands when City Gate 4 and the interconnects are in place.

Perosa said the full program includes 24 capital-improvement projects and estimated a total program cost on the order of $33,000,000, with categorical prioritization: strengthening, resilience, and capacity for growth. She and staff recommended the city pursue grant funding and phased implementation tied to budget availability. “A new station is critical to the system resiliency,” Perosa said.

Council members pressed for details on cost allocation and payback. Consultants and staff noted that rate structure, the utility’s enterprise-fund accounting (which bundles water, sewer and gas), and the pace of commercial development would determine the precise return on investment. The presentation included a recommended financial approach — pursuing competitive grants and considering tiered rate structures so large commercial users contribute a proportionate share.

The council did not take an immediate funding vote on the gas CIP but discussed prioritization and next steps. City staff said they would return with further budget analysis, project timing and grant-application options.

What’s next: staff and consultants said they will provide additional cost schedules, recommended fiscal years for CIP items and grant-application plans for council review before any final budget or rate changes are proposed.