Woodlands vs Katy: An outsider's perspective (Houston, Dallas: low crime, lawyer, buying a house)

[texasdiver]

I've seen lots of Woodlands vs Katy threads here and I thought I'd post my own perceptions now that I've visited and thoroughly explored both areas.

By way of background, my wife and I live in the Waco area where we are both employed and basically satisfied. However my wife is somewhat restless professionally and so we are contemplating a move to a larger city. We have 3 young pre-K to elementary age girls so schools and neighborhoods are a prime criteria. We also hate long commutes and so would not move anywhere that requires commuting. I teach HS science and my wife is a family practice physician so we have the luxury of working pretty much anywhere as there are schools and medical clinics/hospitals scattered everywhere. We have our eye on the greater Houston area because we like it better than the other major metro areas in Texas except perhaps Fort Worth.

Now for my impressions. We have close friends living in Cinco Ranch who just built and moved into a larger house very close to Seven Lakes HS. We have visited them often over the past few years so we are pretty familiar with the Katy/Cinco Ranch area. This past Easter Weekend we decided to visit the Woodlands just to compare and see what it was all about. So we spent 3 nights at the Woodlands Resort and spent the days exploring the area.

First impression. Trees, trees, trees. Actually way too many trees for my taste. My wife actually felt claustrophobic driving around on the Woodlands streets because they are all basically a tunnel of trees. Even the major roads feel very isolated because they are divided roads with a moat of trees down the median. So you really feel like you are driving alone as you never see oncoming traffic, except at intersections. At night the place is really dark as a result as you don't even see oncoming headlights. I'm sure it is something you get used to but my wife was spooked by how alone you feel driving around the Woodlands in the off hours. Certain streets can be as dark as rural Alaska in winter.

Every commercial building in the Woodlands is also hidden behind a berm of trees. There must be some very serious design code enforcement Nazis in the community because I saw no variances whatever. It doesn't matter what kind of business it is, you hide it from sight with a berm of trees, and you hide the signs away so that you can't tell where the business is until you have already driven past it. It's sort of like Carmel California in that respect. You can't find anything unless you already know where it is. Without a GPS with POIs someone would be totally lost in the Woodlands.

I thought a lot about the rigid enforcement of these design standards and I'm not sure it really appeals to me. Essentially what you have in the Woodlands is a lot of car-based sprawl development that is just hidden behind trees. But a strip mall is still a strip mall whether or not you can see it from the street. I actually like seeing the lights and signs of a commercial district. I don't think it all needs to be hidden from sight. I think there is happy medium somewhere between the typical ugly suburban commercial street and making everything hidden as in the Woodlands. My ideal suburban commercial district doesn't look like the Woodlands, it looks more like Bethesda MD where there are a lot more shops and restaurants within easy walking distance of nice residential neighborhoods.

We also spent some time wandering around downtown Woodlands and the mall area. My wife who is bilingual was surprised to encounter so many obviously wealthy Argentinians in the Woodlands. Every where we went we ran into Argentinians. My wife is from Chile and so she can spot the accents. There must be a large and wealthy Argentinian expat community in the Woodlands. By contrast, Katy seems much more homogenous white suburbam Republican Texan. But I was also not particularly thrilled with the downtown area either. Lots and lots of upscale shops and upscale people. But very very corporate. It must be that independent retailers and restaurants cannot afford the Woodlands because the entire place seemed to be a collection of upscale mall chains and restaurants. And then once you stepped one foot out of the retail zone the street life stopped and it was all offices. Virtually no mixing between the retail and financial districts. Which seemed overly planned and not very natural. Although the computerized fountain park along the river walk was quite impressive. I couldn't hardly drag my kids away.

All in all, we concluded that it was a very nice place but somehow didn't really seem to be our style. We looked at a lot of nice houses and neighborhoods. And were impressed with all the trails and mini-parks. But all the nice master-planned communities have those these days. Without looking at actual demographic data, I suspect that the Woodlands population is somewhat older and more wealthy than say Cinco Ranch. We didn't see nearly as many young families with children as in Katy. And didn't see nearly as many schools. In part, it's harder to see the schools in the Woodlands because they are also hidden from the street by trees. But I think the Katy area has a higher density of schools and a lot more new schools which tells me that Katy must have a higher percentage of school age children than the Woodlands.

Both the Katy area and the Woodlands are really quite nice and both of them really push the envelope in terms of master-planned communities with amenities. But our overall impression is that we liked Katy better in terms of a place to live with young kids. The Woodlands feels more private and insular. The Katy master planned communities feel like they are more designed around children. Both have great schools but the schools in Katy seem much more central to the community life than in the Woodlands. In short, the Woodlands seemed like where you move to retire if you are an wealthy older doctor or lawyer who likes seclusion and golf. Katy is where you move if you are a young doctor or lawyer who's focused on schools and community.

Neither community has 100% of what we want. I'd like to see less car-centric development and a more open street grid so you don't have to drive miles in traffic for a gallon of milk. But if we were to decide to move today we'd probably chose Katy over the Woodlands, all things being equal. Katy just feels a little more open and friendly and focused on kids.

[DotLib]

To each his own! Enjoy Katy!!

[Mr. Football]

Or get the best of both worlds and check out Cypress.

Cypress Photo thread:
longwood_cypress' Photostream

Trees and Woodlands-like neighborhoods North of 290, Cinco-Ranch style neighborhoods South of 290. Great schools, very low crime, excellent demographics.

[dv1033]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

I've seen lots of Woodlands vs Katy threads here and I thought I'd post my own perceptions now that I've visited and thoroughly explored both areas.

By way of background, my wife and I live in the Waco area where we are both employed and basically satisfied. However my wife is somewhat restless professionally and so we are contemplating a move to a larger city. We have 3 young pre-K to elementary age girls so schools and neighborhoods are a prime criteria. We also hate long commutes and so would not move anywhere that requires commuting. I teach HS science and my wife is a family practice physician so we have the luxury of working pretty much anywhere as there are schools and medical clinics/hospitals scattered everywhere. We have our eye on the greater Houston area because we like it better than the other major metro areas in Texas except perhaps Fort Worth.

Now for my impressions. We have close friends living in Cinco Ranch who just built and moved into a larger house very close to Seven Lakes HS. We have visited them often over the past few years so we are pretty familiar with the Katy/Cinco Ranch area. This past Easter Weekend we decided to visit the Woodlands just to compare and see what it was all about. So we spent 3 nights at the Woodlands Resort and spent the days exploring the area.

First impression. Trees, trees, trees. Actually way too many trees for my taste. My wife actually felt claustrophobic driving around on the Woodlands streets because they are all basically a tunnel of trees. Even the major roads feel very isolated because they are divided roads with a moat of trees down the median. So you really feel like you are driving alone as you never see oncoming traffic, except at intersections. At night the place is really dark as a result as you don't even see oncoming headlights. I'm sure it is something you get used to but my wife was spooked by how alone you feel driving around the Woodlands in the off hours. Certain streets can be as dark as rural Alaska in winter.

Every commercial building in the Woodlands is also hidden behind a berm of trees. There must be some very serious design code enforcement Nazis in the community because I saw no variances whatever. It doesn't matter what kind of business it is, you hide it from sight with a berm of trees, and you hide the signs away so that you can't tell where the business is until you have already driven past it. It's sort of like Carmel California in that respect. You can't find anything unless you already know where it is. Without a GPS with POIs someone would be totally lost in the Woodlands.

I thought a lot about the rigid enforcement of these design standards and I'm not sure it really appeals to me. Essentially what you have in the Woodlands is a lot of car-based sprawl development that is just hidden behind trees. But a strip mall is still a strip mall whether or not you can see it from the street. I actually like seeing the lights and signs of a commercial district. I don't think it all needs to be hidden from sight. I think there is happy medium somewhere between the typical ugly suburban commercial street and making everything hidden as in the Woodlands. My ideal suburban commercial district doesn't look like the Woodlands, it looks more like Bethesda MD where there are a lot more shops and restaurants within easy walking distance of nice residential neighborhoods.

We also spent some time wandering around downtown Woodlands and the mall area. My wife who is bilingual was surprised to encounter so many obviously wealthy Argentinians in the Woodlands. Every where we went we ran into Argentinians. My wife is from Chile and so she can spot the accents. There must be a large and wealthy Argentinian expat community in the Woodlands. By contrast, Katy seems much more homogenous white suburbam Republican Texan. But I was also not particularly thrilled with the downtown area either. Lots and lots of upscale shops and upscale people. But very very corporate. It must be that independent retailers and restaurants cannot afford the Woodlands because the entire place seemed to be a collection of upscale mall chains and restaurants. And then once you stepped one foot out of the retail zone the street life stopped and it was all offices. Virtually no mixing between the retail and financial districts. Which seemed overly planned and not very natural. Although the computerized fountain park along the river walk was quite impressive. I couldn't hardly drag my kids away.

All in all, we concluded that it was a very nice place but somehow didn't really seem to be our style. We looked at a lot of nice houses and neighborhoods. And were impressed with all the trails and mini-parks. But all the nice master-planned communities have those these days. Without looking at actual demographic data, I suspect that the Woodlands population is somewhat older and more wealthy than say Cinco Ranch. We didn't see nearly as many young families with children as in Katy. And didn't see nearly as many schools. In part, it's harder to see the schools in the Woodlands because they are also hidden from the street by trees. But I think the Katy area has a higher density of schools and a lot more new schools which tells me that Katy must have a higher percentage of school age children than the Woodlands.

Both the Katy area and the Woodlands are really quite nice and both of them really push the envelope in terms of master-planned communities with amenities. But our overall impression is that we liked Katy better in terms of a place to live with young kids. The Woodlands feels more private and insular. The Katy master planned communities feel like they are more designed around children. Both have great schools but the schools in Katy seem much more central to the community life than in the Woodlands. In short, the Woodlands seemed like where you move to retire if you are an wealthy older doctor or lawyer who likes seclusion and golf. Katy is where you move if you are a young doctor or lawyer who's focused on schools and community.

Neither community has 100% of what we want. I'd like to see less car-centric development and a more open street grid so you don't have to drive miles in traffic for a gallon of milk. But if we were to decide to move today we'd probably chose Katy over the Woodlands, all things being equal. Katy just feels a little more open and friendly and focused on kids.

Seems like you have your mind on Katy but I will give me two cents:

I don't understand the claustrophobia tree thing but that is the main selling point with The Woodlands. The Woodlands has its own bus service to the major employment centers in Houston's inner core, along with most suburbs in the Houston metro (some are more convenient than others). Furthermore, The Woodlands has a great Town Center and entertainment venues. Basically The Woodlands is more of city within itself than Katy.

Katy, South Katy mainly, is a great area and has all the great amenities for family life but it is just too new and too treeless for my taste. Granted it was grown on coastal prairie that was bulldozed for rice, but it still needs some time before the area looks established.

You might want to look at Sugar Land as well since your jobs will permit more options. Sugar Land is differently distinctive compared to many other the larger suburbs and has a more established look. I think West Houston has the most going for it in terms of growth and overall , so Katy isn't the only option for West Houston (Sugar Land is SW Houston).

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by DotLib

To each his own! Enjoy Katy!!

Oh, who knows. Katy is far from ideal either. Too much sprawl commercial development outside the master planned communities and traffic is a mess.

We're not moving anywhere fast at this point. Just looking around for what other options are out there.

Sugar Land and Cypress also keep popping up as places to consider. Haven't been to Sugar Land at all and all I've seen of Cypress is what you see from the traffic crawling along 290. Sugar Land sounds to be the most diverse of the upscale suburban communities around Houston.

We've explored a lot of other areas in Texas as well. One thing about Waco is that it is conveniently located to explore Texas in any direction. DFW and Austin are each 1.5 hours away. Houston and San Antonio are each 3 hours away. So we have lots of weekend trip opportunities. So far we've found the lushness of Houston to be the most appealing. Austin is also nice but it is probably the least promising community professionally as it has a surplus of both teachers and doctors drawn there by the lifestyle.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by dv1033

Seems like you have your mind on Katy but I will give me two cents:

I don't understand the claustrophobia tree thing but that is the main selling point with The Woodlands. The Woodlands has its own bus service to the major employment centers in Houston's inner core, along with most suburbs in the Houston metro (some are more convenient than others). Furthermore, The Woodlands has a great Town Center and entertainment venues. Basically The Woodlands is more of city within itself than Katy.

I guess it's what you get used to. We moved to Texas from Juneau Alaska which is even more densely forested than the Woodlands. But the terrain is rugged so you have views in every direction. I think what I missed in the Woodlands was the views. The ability to see more than 100' in any direction is just missing unless you happen to be on one of the lakes. But I'm sure you get used to it.

I definitely agree that the Woodlands has a much more developed commercial district. If one works there there isn't much reason to ever go into Houston. Although I didn't find the shopping to be that great for daily life type stuff. The Target is much older and messier than the one in Waco. And I didn't think the HEB was all that great either. Not any nicer than the HEB 3 blocks away from us here in Woodway. The fancy shops in the Woodlands would be nice for Christmas shopping but not the sort of places one goes for daily necessities.

I will say this though. I definitely liked the Woodlands better than any of the comparable communities in the Dallas area. Southlake is often mentioned as being comparable. But I don't see it at all. And Plano and Frisco? Gah.

[Topaz]

I'll put in a vote for Sugar Land. We like the proximity to the Museum District (28 minutes on the weekend), the fact that we have the only suburban Whole Foods Market in the Houston metro area, and the strict zoning (despite the jokes about the uniform look, I actually like the brick McDonald's rather than the alternative ugliness).

Lots of hospitals here, several terrific schools, a very family friendly atmosphere in the master planned communities like First Colony and New Territory, low crime. Older homes for the money compared to what you'd get in Katy. Not forested like The Woodlands, although we do have trees.

People who live in The Woodlands, Katy, and Sugar Land all tend to like where they live...you would likely be happy in any of these.

[Premont]

If you live near South Mason in Katy there is everything you need close by. There's a big mall, a couple of movie theaters, lots of grocery options, hardware stores, etc. The Katy Freeway has been expanded, so you can get to downtown or the west loop really easy on the weekends.

[jluke65780]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

I guess it's what you get used to. We moved to Texas from Juneau Alaska which is even more densely forested than the Woodlands. But the terrain is rugged so you have views in every direction. I think what I missed in the Woodlands was the views. The ability to see more than 100' in any direction is just missing unless you happen to be on one of the lakes. But I'm sure you get used to it.

I definitely agree that the Woodlands has a much more developed commercial district. If one works there there isn't much reason to ever go into Houston. Although I didn't find the shopping to be that great for daily life type stuff. The Target is much older and messier than the one in Waco. And I didn't think the HEB was all that great either. Not any nicer than the HEB 3 blocks away from us here in Woodway. The fancy shops in the Woodlands would be nice for Christmas shopping but not the sort of places one goes for daily necessities.

I will say this though. I definitely liked the Woodlands better than any of the comparable communities in the Dallas area. Southlake is often mentioned as being comparable. But I don't see it at all. And Plano and Frisco? Gah.

My parents are looking into buying a house out in Woodway. Love the rolling hills there ,but anyways. It depends what you want, Katy is more close to the city and also more diverse and fast paced. It's lacks the trees and beauty of The Woodlands though. The Woodlands not only looks isolated, but is isolated imo. When I go out there, it feels so far out, as if I'm in the middle of nowhere. The town center in Woodlands however is VERY nice and you see lots of people walking around, but too many white people (no offence) to me. Katy feels alot like Houston in many ways with how things are there.

I'd pick Sugarland or Missouri City over them both though.

[DotLib]

*but too many white people (no offence) to me* Now, you knew (or you should have known) someone would jump on that! I have to wonder how you would have felt if I had said "too many black people". Maybe a kinder way would have been to say, "not enough black people" for me.

But, since Im off topic now..I still love ya! I will admit that the Woodlands has more people from India than they do black, but we try to make everyone feel welcome, or I would! Dot