After hearing from various officials on the issue, the council agreed to let City Manager Jan Belcher draft a resolution in support of the proposed system. Belcher said that signing such a resolution of support would put Tomball “in line” with other cities in the area and would show that Tomball is “on board” with the idea of a commuter rail.

Belcher brought the idea of the resolution to the council after recently joining several groups that are studying the rail system.

“In an effort to have a hand in controlling our own destiny, I decided to get involved,” Belcher said. “We didn’t have any representation at these meetings.”

She also told council that many of the groups meeting to address the commuter rail system were discussing matters that would directly affect Tomball in the future. Belcher said that getting involved in these groups would help “determine as a city where Tomball stands on the issue of commuter rail.”

During the meeting, Belcher cited studies have projected that the Greater Houston area will grow substantially in the next few decades, possibly adding millions to its population by 2019.

“The timeframe for building these systems is measured in decades,” she said. “Tomball’s situation will be very different in 10 years from how it is today, and we could be suffering with every road being like a parking lot while other communities benefit from the commuter rail system.”

Belcher said that a commuter rail system would bring new businesses to the Tomball area and would also make it easy for residents to get into downtown Houston.

The council will vote on the resolution in support in the coming weeks.

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