THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS

'The Woodlands' is a census-designated place (CDP) and large master-planned community located in the counties of Montgomery and Harris in the state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 55,649. As of 2007, the Woodlands' population is estimated to be around 85,000. Much of the development is located in the city of Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), but small portions of The Woodlands extends into the ETJ of Shenandoah and Conroe. Plans for annexation of both the Houston and Conroe portions were in discussion, but regional agreements have been set in place to allow The Woodlands to incorporate itself.
The Woodlands is located about 25 miles north of downtown Houston along Interstate 45. Though it is mostly a suburban development and a bedroom community, it also has attracted corporations to the area. As a result, the area features several corporate campuses, most notably Chevron Phillips, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Baker Hughes, CB&I, and Hewitt Associates . The development won a Special Award for Excellence in 1994 from the Urban Land Institute. ^[2]
In addition to residential and corporate housing, The Woodlands features a shopping mall, six golf courses and The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, a regional concert venue.

Contents

History

Geography

Demographics

Education

Schools

Private schools

Neighborhoods

Annexation and future incorporation

References

External links

History

The Woodlands was founded by George P. Mitchell in 1974 ^[3], managed by The Woodlands Corporation as an extension of Mitchell Energy & Development. The Woodlands Corporation was acquired on July 31, 1997 by a joint partnership between Morgan Stanley and Crescent Real Estate Equities. SECinfo.com. http://www.secinfo.com/dsvrp.88U1.htm#Dates In December of 2003, the Rouse Company acquired Crescent's interest in The Woodlands, SEC Edgar document through SECinfo.com. (Link from Google Cache) Rouse was itself sold to General Growth Properties Inc. on November 12, 2004. ^[4]
The tract of land where The Woodlands is situated was previously occupied by the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Mill ^[5] and are the namesakes for the Grogan's Mill and Cochran's Crossing neighborhoods. The original planning of The Woodlands utilized many of the planning concepts and design consultants employed in other well regarded new communities of that era such as Columbia, Maryland, Irvine Ranch, California and Reston, Virginia. The original development plan included environmental design principals espoused by Ian McHarg, a distinguished landscape architect, teacher and author of the seminal work "Design With Nature."
The Woodlands continues to grow residentially and commercially as many companies are moving to The Woodlands. In addition to Chevron Phillips, Anadarko, Hewitt Associates, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Mærsk Sealand, Chicago Bridge & Iron, and Woodforest National Bank have set up operations in the development. The Woodlands Town Center area includes shopping and eating facilities, plus a waterway resembling the San Antonio River Walk.

Geography

The Woodlands is located at (30.177430, -95.503795).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 61.8 km² (23.9 mi²). 60.6 km² (23.4 mi²) of it is land and 1.2 km² (0.5 mi²) of it (1.97%) is water.
The development is situated in a heavily forested area and much of the community has retained trees for shade and decoration. The terrain is of small rolling hills.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 55,649 people and 19,081 households residing in the CDP.^[6] The population density was 900.5/km² (2,328.4/mi²).There were 21,014 housing units at an average density of 346.6/km² (897.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 92.36% White, 1.75% African American, 0.29% Native American, 2.80% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.43% from other races, and 1.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.64% of the population.
Of the households, 47.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.2% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.8% were non-families. 19.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.21.
The age distribution was 31.8% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 7.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.5 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $85,253 in 1999 dollars. About 3.6% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.
A 2005 estimate indicated 65,744 people living in 24,516 households. ^[7]

Education

Pupils in the Montgomery County-portion of The Woodlands attend schools in the Conroe Independent School District. Pupils from the Creekside Park Village in Harris County attend the Tomball Independent School District. The Montgomery County Memorial Library System operates two libraries in The Woodlands, the South Branch and the George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library.

Schools

The Woodlands High School is the largest high school in Texas in terms of its area (it extends over two campuses). The school once had the largest number of students (over 4,900) until the opening of a second high school in The Woodlands. TWHS is ranked 751 on ''Newsweek's'' 2007 list of the 1000 Best High Schools in America. ^[8]
The Woodlands College Park High School is a new campus built to relieve The Woodlands High School.
Tomball High School will serve pupils inside Harris County.
'Junior high schools'

★ Montgomery County: Knox Junior High School, McCullough Junior High School

★ Harris County: Tomball Junior High School

Private schools

The Woodlands also has several private schools:

★ Oak Ridge Christian Academy

★ The Woodlands Christian Academy

★ The John Cooper School

★ Esprit International School

★ The Phoenix Academy

★ The Woodlands Academy Preparatory School

Neighborhoods

★ 'Village of Alden Bridge': Northwest corner of development. Bordered by FM 2978 on the West and FM 1488 and the Jones State Forest on the North.

★ 'Village of Cochran's Crossing': location of The Woodlands High School. Named for the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Mill.

★ 'Village of College Park': location of Montgomery College, a public two-year community college. This neighborhood includes Harper's Landing east of Interstate 45.

★ 'Village of Creekside Park': The last new development to be undertaken by The Woodlands Development Company. A portion lies inside Harris County.

★ 'Village of Grogan's Mill': The Woodlands' first neighborhood. Located near the Town Center. Named for the former Grogan-Cochran Lumber Mill.

★ 'Village of Indian Springs'

★ 'Village of Panther Creek': borders the west shore of Lake Woodlands

★ 'Village of Sterling Ridge': location of The Woodlands High School Ninth Grade Campus. Includes the gated community of Carlton Woods.

★ 'Town Center': a primarily commercial development. Location of The Woodlands Mall and The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, along with hotels and a convention center. Funded largely by the Town Center Improvement District.

Annexation and future incorporation

A moratorium on Houston's annexation of ETJ located inside The Woodlands expires in 2011. The moratorium was enacted by the State of Texas after Houston's annexation of the Kingwood development. The formation of an independent government by The Woodlands would require authorization by the State of Texas and the City of Houston.
To avoid annexation, two state legislators representing Woodlands voters, Sen. Tommy Williams and Rep. Robert Eissler, created and passed two bills in the 2007 Legislature - House Bill 4109 ^[9] and Senate Bill 1012 ^[10]. HB 4109 calls for a vote to allow expansion of an existing improvement district and to allow The Woodlands to collect sales tax ^[11], while SB 1012 allows for the creation of regional agreements. The passage of these bills allows an opportunity for The Woodlands to incorporate itself.
To make the City of Houston agree to release the Woodlands from its ETJ, the city and the development will enter into a regional agreement where The Woodlands will put 16 million dollars ^[12] into a fund the city of Houston can use for general improvements, such as an expansion of the Hardy Toll Road into downtown Houston. In return, Houston will release the development from its ETJ and the city can incorporate in through an election in 2014. ^[13]
In addition, The Woodlands entered into a similar regional agreement with Conroe to avoid annexation of a municipal utility district inside The Woodlands. ^[14] The Woodlands will put $320,000 into a fund to serve mutual interests. In return, Conroe will end annexation proceedings and release the utility district from Conroe's ETJ in 2014.
There is currently no discussion on plans for the area inside Shenandoah's ETJ.
Future municipal governance planning is an ongoing discussion.

References

1. US Census Bureau Population Finder: The Woodlands CDP, Texas
2. ULI Awards for Excellence Winners, 1979-2006. Urban Land Institute. (Link from Google Cache)
3. Historic Houston, Who's Who: George Mitchell. Houstonhistory.com. http://www.houstonhistory.com/whoswho/history23hof.htm
4. Washington Post 2005 Top 200, General Growth Properties. Washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/post200/2005/RSE.html
5. ''With Grogan at Bivins and Magnolia (Gulf Coast Lumberman, 1939)''. Texas Transportation Archive. http://www.ttarchive.com/Library/Companies/GroganAtBivins-Magnolia.html
6. 2000 US Census, The Woodlands CDP, Texas. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=&geo_id=16000US4872656&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US48%7C16000US4872656&_street=&_county=The+Woodlands&_cityTown=The+Woodlands&_state=04000US48&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=160&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2005_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=
7. 2005 American Community Survey Estimate via US Census Factfinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=&geo_id=16000US4872656&_geoContext=01000US%7C04000US48%7C16000US4872656&_street=&_county=The+Woodlands&_cityTown=The+Woodlands&_state=04000US48&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=160&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=DEC_2000_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=
8. America's Top Public High Schools. MSNBC.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/?sort=Rank&count=1327&Search=&start=700&limit=100&year=2007&
9. 80th Texas Legislature, House Bill 4109. http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB4109
10. 80th Texas Legislature, Senate Bill 1012. http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=SB1012
11. ''Woodlands governing groups prepare for November election''. Houston Chronicle. June 19, 2007. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/woodlands/news/4902497.html
12. ''Bill Seals Deal to halt Woodlands' annexation''. Houston Chronicle. March 1, 2007. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/07/legislature/4592681.html
13. ''Legislation puts Woodlands on track for future''. Houston Chronicle. May 23, 2007. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/07/legislature/4828223.html
14. ''Agreement will keep neighborhood in The Woodlands''. Houston Chronicle. June 14, 2007. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4891964.html

External links

★ The Woodlands

★ TalkofTheWoodlands.com

★ Woodlands Online

★ The Woodlands Governance Steering Committee, a committee researching future municipal options for the Woodlands.

★ Woodlands Neighborhood Map

★ Handbook of Texas' Online entry