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Missouri City council disapproves renewal of Sienna development agreement and authorizes outside counsel review
Summary
At a Feb. 16 special meeting, the Missouri City Council voted unanimously to disapprove renewal of a Sienna Plantation joint development agreement and instructed staff to hire outside counsel to explore options on a related joint development agreement; the items followed an executive session and a public comment urging stronger local oversight of Sienna.
Missouri City’s council voted Feb. 16 to reject renewal of the Sienna Plantation joint development agreement and to hire outside counsel to explore options regarding a related joint development agreement.
The decisions came at a special meeting called to order at 5:01 p.m. after the council went into an executive session to receive legal advice under section 551.071. After returning to open session at 6:42 p.m., Councilmember Brown Marshall moved to instruct the city attorney and city manager to retain outside counsel to examine options concerning what the motion identified as the Ciena joint development agreement and related matters; the council approved the motion unanimously.
Public commenter David Atwood, a resident of Sienna’s Steepbank Village East, urged the council to clarify who governs the annexed Sienna area before renewing development agreements. "Before you renew some kind of agreement like this for these kind of master plan community developments, you, the city, ought to consider who's in charge and who's gonna run things and do it," Atwood said, describing utility and oversight problems he has observed in the neighborhood.
Later in the meeting a staff member read the ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a renewal of the Sienna Plantation joint development agreement between the City of Missouri City and Sienna Johnson North LP. Councilmember Brown Marshall moved to disapprove renewal of that agreement, naming Sienna Johnson North LP and DeWalt Land Limited; Councilmember Riley seconded. The council voted unanimously to approve the motion to disapprove.
The council’s votes were conducted by roll call. For the motion to hire outside counsel and for the vote to disapprove the renewal, the roll-call responses recorded Mayor Alikat and Councilmembers Brown Marshall, Mayor Pro Tem Clauser, Riley, Thompson and Odecker as voting yes; Member Emery also recorded a yes on the later votes. Where a vote count was announced, the council described the votes as unanimous.
The meeting ended with no further business; the mayor adjourned the special meeting at 6:45 p.m.
What happened next was not recorded in the meeting transcript: the motions give the city attorney and manager direction to proceed with outside counsel review and the council formally registered its disapproval of the proposed renewal. The council did not, during the public record provided, adopt an alternative renewal or direct staff to negotiate replacement terms.
