Residents tell commission Miller Road connector would worsen flooding, change rural character

Several Miller Road residents urged the Planning and Zoning Commission on May 6 to abandon proposals that would extend Sienna traffic onto Miller Road, arguing the change would worsen flooding and destroy a longstanding rural neighborhood. "Putting Sienna traffic on Miller Road would change all of that," resident Kathy Brammer said, describing Miller Road as a narrow, largely unlit two-lane road bounded by an agricultural waterway and wetlands.

Jay Hickman, who the meeting identified as owner of 2403 Miller Road, said proposals that cross private land would take away a community resource and the privacy his family values. "We moved out there. We raised our family out there," Hickman said, urging the commission not to sacrifice the horse-stable business and neighborhood character for a connector. Terry Dobson, another Miller Road resident, recalled repeated flooding — "Miller Road in the last 5, 6 years has been underwater 3 times" — and said he had to leave his home by tractor during Hurricane Harvey, underscoring residents' evacuation and safety concerns.

Dobson told commissioners much of the southern Miller Road corridor is federally protected wetland, part of the Lower Brazos River Wetland Mitigation Bank (about 300 acres), and said drainage flows from Sienna into Miller Road through large pipes that periodically overwhelm the roadway. He recommended the commission consider alternatives such as widening McKeever Road, using Porter Road or Finn Road, or leveraging existing service corridors rather than routing Sienna traffic into Miller Road.