Three days worth of planning meetings designed to map out the future of Tomball culminated May 7 with a “Futures Forum,” where consultants presented a report to city leaders and residents.

The report presented a broad plan that included input from city residents and administrators that could be an early blueprint for what Tomball may look like in 20 years.

Pictured at left, PSA President Peggy Fiandaca (center) discusses a map of Tomball at Tomball Junior High during a May 7 meeting.

The City of Tomball has contracted with Partners for Strategic Action (PSA) to help formulate a comprehensive plan for the city. Last week’s meetings were designed to gather residents' comments and suggestions for PSA’s final report to the city, which is expected to be presented in the fall.

“Tomball is at a critical point in its development,” PSA President Peggy Fiandaca said. “We can’t put our heads in the sand and say growth isn’t going to occur. It is.”

Fiandaca, along with representatives from Kinley and Associates and Steven Ames Planning, presented the report that showed a much different, but more accessible and attractive, Four Corners area, which Fiandaca called the “front door” to Tomball.

“As an outsider looking in at that front door, it’s not a pretty picture,” she said.

The plan PSA proposed for the Four Corners area included more green space, walkways and less focus on retail businesses. A slide show displayed a multi-story office complex with green space in the location of the old Kroger site.

Fiandaca said that one of the most common suggestions planners heard from the hundreds of residents they spoke with was the hope to maintain the small town character of Tomball while keeping the charm of the downtown district and improving the general aesthetics of the area.

The group proposed a plan that called for redesigning the facades of many downtown and Main Street buildings, improving sidewalks, and creating more green and civic spaces.

Planners with PSA say they have talked with more than 700 people from Tomball over the course of the last six months in formulating their plan, including hundreds of Tomball ISD junior high and high school students.

Fiandaca said the most prevalent comment from Tomball’s youth was a need for more entertainment opportunities downtown, and for such events as a music or film festival.

PSA identified the southeastern portion of Tomball as an ideal location for businesses that could generate more employment in the city, and places on the north and western ends of the city as better for green space.

Their plan also included a system of sidewalks and paths that could potentially link the major parts of the city together for those who wish to walk or ride bicycles.

Fiandaca also cited Tomball as being in a prime position to be a major hub for a commuter rail in the future, as well as other mass transit opportunities.

“However, when we say transit, we’re not talking about Houston-Metro coming to Tomball,” she said.

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