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Magnolia city officials have entered the beginning stages of a new comprehensive plan, which will give the city a roadmap for planning the next 15-20 years. Residents will have a chance to hear about the new plan during the city council meeting Nov. 13.

Magnolia Economic Development Coordinator Deborah Rose Miller said the plan is long overdue. The city's last comprehensive plan was developed in 1999.

"It was time for an update," she said. "We had outgrown our previous plan. It wasn't as encompassing as we want to make this plan."

Miller said the new plan will be able to allow the city to do more things to plan for the future, such as possibly adding planning and zoning down the road.

"We can't do zoning without a comprehensive plan, if we decide to do that," she said. "We will be able to do many things as a city, but to do those things, the law requires that we have a comprehensive plan."

The plan, being developed by officials with the help of Kendig Keast Collaborative, starts off by focusing not just on the city, but the entire area around Magnolia and its explosive growth.

"Magnolia benefits from the regional employment centers and mixed-use amenities of The Woodlands, Conroe and Tomball," the plan's introductory statement says. "This has translated into local growth, as Magnolia has experienced a 25 percent population increase over the last 10 years and a 50 percent increase in commercial permits over the last year."

Among the goals of the plan are establishing a community-supported vision and guiding principles that steer future growth and enhancement, providing short, mid-term and long-term growth strategies and providing greater predictability for residents, land owners, developers and investors.

Members of the plan's steering committee have gone over the first three chapters of the plan, which will be presented to the city council Nov. 13, for discussion.

"It's part of the process," Miller said. "We want to make sure each chapter builds on the others and make sure everyone is on the same page."

The second chapter of the plan deals with the area's land use and character.

"The city must play to its strengths by maintaining a high quality of life and niche appeal that compliment the big city amenities of neighboring jurisdictions," the plan states. "As the community grows and matures, land use and character planning will be central to protecting its highly valued identity, while guiding the pattern, appearance, quality and sustainability of new growth."

The third chapter to be discussed at the meeting deals with growth management and capacity.

"Like many small, bedroom communities, Magnolia lacks a critical mass of taxpayers that wholly fund the infrastructure and social services that are expected of a metropolitan suburb," the plane states. "As the city pursues an aggressive growth trajectory to overcome this imbalance and achieve home rule authority, its long-term financial health and sustainability will be contingent on its restraint, as much as it opportunism."

The city has taken steps to build a committee to look into the benefits and concerns of zoning, which the council will discuss at the meeting as well.

"If the council approves the committee, its charter will be to investigate the pros and cons of implementing zoning," Miller stated.

The council meeting starts at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 18111 Buddy Riley Blvd.

The Magnolia City Council approved a resolution April 9, to brand the central business district within the city limits as "Magnolia Town Center." This is good news for City Administrator Paul Mendes and former Economic Development Coordinator Deborah Rose Miller, both of whom have spent the better part of the last two years working on the city's comprehensive plan, which included a recommendation to re-brand the business area.

Traditionally, the legacy area of Magnolia included the streets and businesses around the intersection of FM 1488 and FM 1774, east to Magnolia Ridge and south to Unity Park – the actual Magnolia city limits area. But the heaviest population growth in recent years has been on the eastern edge of the extraterrestrial jurisdiction.

"We have worked hard to extend the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city all the way east to the edge of The Woodlands, so that Magnolia has plenty of room to expand," said Miller.

Recently, the east side around Magnolia Parkway has taken off, with new businesses going in every month. Many of the businesses on the east side of town also havelocations on the west side, within the legacy area. It is not unusual for two locations of the same business to both have FM 1488 addresses, but miles apart, with  one located on the eastern side and one on the western side. This results in confusion for customers.

"This resolution was about branding and definition," said Mendes. "We really wanted to make it easy to define location."

He also stated the city wanted to preserve the name Magnolia Town Center to prevent a developer or builder from using it first.

"It's a lot like registering a domain name for your business so that no one else can get it," he explained.

The Magnolia Town Center will also have a more defined business area. Mendes pointed out that the widening of FM 1774 is now slated to begin in June of this year and will take about 20 months to complete.

Following the widening, a sidewalk will be installed along the west side of FM 1774 from FM 1488 to the school, which will make it easier for people to walk in the area and visit multiple shops.

Magnolia businesses are ready to start defining their location as part of the Magnolia Town Center.

Several believe the new nomenclature will clear up any confusion about which part of the city they are located in and others just believe the new name has a positive ring.
Rene Benitez, owner of Las Fuentes Mexican Restaurant, appreciates the new name.

"We had a location on both ends of FM 1488 and there was a lot of confusion. This will definitely clear that up," he stated.

Papa John's Pizza has multiple Magnolia locations, which are actually owned by different franchises.

Jake Schaub, shift manager of the central Magnolia store, feels the new term will make it easier to define where his store is.

"When people call, we always need to give them directions to make sure they have the location they want," he said. "We usually say we are in the heart of Magnolia, but this name will simplify things for us."

Viren Vansadia and his wife Lila own the Magnolia Inn & Suites and haven't found that customers are confused about their location. Vinsadia does like the new name, however.

"Magnolia Town Center sounds better; it's a more upscale name than 'Magnolia West' or 'Magnolia East.' It's a good idea," he said.

Miller wants the new brand to help provide a positive connotation for Magnolia by imparting a dynamic, yet historical, identification for the central business area.

"This is one way we can demonstrate that the city population is actually more than the thousand-plus that was shown on our sign for years and years," she said. "We are now at more than 138,000 and we are starting to look like it."