Howe has applied for a state planning grant that would pay to update its comprehensive plan, the document that guides how and where a city grows, and the City Council will be asked Tuesday to sign off on two pieces of paperwork tied to it.
The council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 100 E. O'Connell St.
The grant
The money would come from the Resilient Communities Program, part of the federal Community Development Block Grant Mitigation funding that the Texas General Land Office hands out.
In a memo to the council, City Administrator Monte Walker wrote that the city has applied for the program's planning grant and that the two resolutions would put Howe ahead of the curve while the application is under review. Staff recommends approving both.
The first resolution names who can sign for the city. Contracts and environmental review documents with the Land Office could be signed by the mayor, the city secretary or the city administrator, and payment request forms by the mayor, the mayor pro tem or the city secretary. The second affirms the civil rights policies the program requires of grant recipients.
The packet does not say how much Howe requested.
Where housing projects stand
Walker's economic development report in the same packet gives an update on residential projects:
- Noble Ridge Phases 1A and 1B: 284 of the planned 348 homes are finished or under construction.
- Sutton Flats, the NRP Group's 300-unit apartment project, is now leasing.
- Ponderosa Point: developer Cope Equities has asked about a public improvement district for the residential part of the property, and a financing agreement is still being worked out.
- Cherukuru Investments, which has 180 acres at the northeast corner of Bennett Road and FM 902 and 35 acres at Enloe and Bennett, has a term sheet with the city and plans a municipal utility district, but is waiting on a water study.
- Grace Meadows Phase I, with 51 half-acre lots, has been sold to Astoria Homes, and Walker wrote that construction should start soon.
On wastewater, the report says the city attorney is reviewing an updated sewer agreement with Sherman that would stay in place until Howe moves to the BVRT-II system. Walker also wrote that a budget amendment should reach the council in November.
Separately on Tuesday's agenda, Municipal Judge Britton Brooks has asked the council to approve two fill-in judges for days he is unavailable: Dennis Michael, the elected Precinct 2 justice of the peace, and Ben Smith, Grayson County's appointed magistrate judge. The memo says Brooks would pay them himself.
Sources
cityofhowetx.gov
cityofhowetx.gov
