Pearland/Manvel - Sedona Lakes & Pomona Neighborhoods (Alvin, Kirby: middle school, building)

[ultimate_ed]

I've been in Sedona Lakes for six years now and generally been happy with it. Good community of neighbors we've got. I've also been happy with the AISD schools, not sure what your concern is with Manvel High School. My daughter is there now and my son will be there in a few years.

Pomona does look like a nice neighborhood as well. Some of the builders that were in Sedona Lakes earlier and now building over there. I do have to concede they've got a much nicer playground than we do for the kids. Sedona was stalled for about a year while the original developer ran into issues with their other properties and had to sellout.

If you're willing to expand your search down toward highway 6, there are a number of existing and newer developments going in down there, with Meridiana looking to be a rather sizeable addition.

[gettingerb]

Glad to hear it ultimate_ed. There are a lot of nice houses for sale in the neighborhood right now.

Does it seem to you like there are more or less than normal? Seems like there is a lot of inventory.

I don't know anything particular about Manvel, but the greatschools.org ratings are not kind to it. Its a 5/10. https://www.redfin.com/school/182458...el-High-School

[ultimate_ed]

Originally Posted by gettingerb

Glad to hear it ultimate_ed. There are a lot of nice houses for sale in the neighborhood right now.

Does it seem to you like there are more or less than normal? Seems like there is a lot of inventory.

I don't know anything particular about Manvel, but the greatschools.org ratings are not kind to it. Its a 5/10. https://www.redfin.com/school/182458...el-High-School

So, as far as housing inventory goes, if anything, I've noticed more sold signs in the last several months as I walk the neighborhood. There is a lot of building going on right now as several new streets have been finished and opened to the builders in the last year. I think we're also within a couple of years of finishing the buildout and there are a good number of spec homes that look like they are going up. As for existing homes that the 1st buyers are trying to sell, I think that's always going to be a tricky proposition to have a second hand home for sale while new houses are still going up and new neighborhoods as well. I don't have a good feel for how long the these homes are taking to sell.

We have a very active private facebook group for the neighborhood that is restricted to verified home owners. While there are always some cranks, the overall vibe I get from my fellow neighbors is we're generally happy with where we're at. There are a lot of kids of all ages. While, I'm sure from a statistical standpoint, whites are the majority, there is a lot of diversity in the neighborhood. We're basically a bunch of upper middle class families - engineers, doctors, dentists, small business owners, etc. Folks here want nice houses in a good community to raise their kids in. While there is a good neighborhood pool, a lot of folks build their own. That was one of the reasons we moved here - my wife wanted a yard large enough for us to have our own pool.

The HOA is a nominal nuisance, but one that I would call "mostly harmless". You'll get a letter if you don't take care of the yard or leave your trash can out for several days. However, compared to the horror stories you read about HOA's, ours is pretty tame. The developer is in control of the HOA right now and contracts with an outside company to run the day to day things - which seems pretty typical for Houston neighborhoods from what I've seen. There's been talk of electing residents to the board and transitioning to a homeowner run HOA, but we're not there yet.


As for the school, I looked over the Great Schools report and can't dispute the hard numbers. Manvel High School covers a large geographical area, much of it rural, and there certainly is a fair bit of poverty - there are several trailer parks and apartment complexes. Where parents are unengaged and uninterested, the kids are going to struggle and I can see those being a drag on Manvel's scores. Drugs and fights are realities, though my daughter has never expressed concerns or been pressured to take drugs and such.

She runs with the band and advanced academic kids. In those areas, I would say Manvel is pretty strong. AISD has strong support for the arts. I'm involved with the band boosters, so I spend a good bit of time with the staff there. Especially in the last couple of years with the new district superintendent, we've seen a lot of support - new uniforms coming this year, a new set of marching drums, the district pays for the kids meals that we serve them on game days. A lot of things that would be an out of pocket expense for parents have been covered, which has resulted in pretty low remaining band fees. Being a band "roadie" and helping at football games and marching contests is a lot of fun and helped me create a stronger bond with my daughter.

The district offers a pretty full set of AP courses and also has partnered with Alvin Community College to offer a large set of dual credit classes as well. With the dual credit options, it is possible to graduate high school and have an associates degree from ACC at the same time. My daughter is taking a mix of AP and dual credit classes.

So, if I had to summarize Manvel, I'd say this - if you are a parent who is engaged with your kids and interested in advanced academic opportunities, then Manvel has a lot to offer. If you are a parent who can't be bothered and whose kids are struggling and unmotivated as a result, Manvel isn't going to be able to work miracles.

[gettingerb]

Thanks Ed - I appreciate the insights into the neighborhood we will be in town looking the 2nd/3rd week of July so hopefully the homes we have been tracking will still around a few more weeks!

Have there been any discussions about a high school nearer to Sedona Lakes at some point? I know Shadow Creek HS opened a year or so ago, but curious if the development plan has another planned near Sedona. It looks like for elementary Sedona Lakes will be going to the new school built in Pomona starting this fall.

[ultimate_ed]

Originally Posted by gettingerb

Have there been any discussions about a high school nearer to Sedona Lakes at some point? I know Shadow Creek HS opened a year or so ago, but curious if the development plan has another planned near Sedona. It looks like for elementary Sedona Lakes will be going to the new school built in Pomona starting this fall.

The bond election that we passed a couple of years ago included funding to buy land for a fourth high school. I don't see anything on where that is planned to be yet, but it will be somewhere out here on the western side of the district. The projections are that Alvin ISD will have six high schools by the time this region finishes building out over the next 20-30 years.

For some perspective, the district only had one high school, the main Alvin High School, for it's first 100 years. Manvel High was the second and it just finished its 11th year. The third high school has been open for one year now.

So, with the growth that we're going to continue to see, I wouldn't be surprised if Sedona doesn't get zone. to a new high school down the road. I expect Highway 6 to bring in several more housing developments that will cut down the area that the current high school is available to serve.

And yes, next year Sedona will be rezoned to the new Pomona elementary when it opens. I know several of the staff from EC Mason, our current elementary are moving over there. That includes one woman in our neighborhood whose teaching 1st grade now, as I recall. I believe her youngest is still elementary school age. Their older son is my son's age and good friends. I have no doubt that Pomona will prove to be a good school.

Another fun bit of trivia - under the original developer for Sedona Lakes, the "master plan" that they included in the sales literature showed land set aside for an elementary school. I never gave it too much stock since I figured my kids would be out of elementary by the time it could have been built. It turns out that was more of a hope for the old developer - Alvin ISD never had any commitment in place to build a school in our neighborhood.

And with that, one general bit of advice, particularly if you are looking at new houses and dealing with the builders' sales folks in any of these neighborhoods - I would independently check anything they tell you about the area. Apparently some folks in our neighborhood were told that we were in Pearland ISD by one of the builder's salespeople. They were surprised after move in to learn that wasn't true. Whether the rep was misinformed or just thought Pearland ISD would make a better sales pitch, I can't say. So, claims about schools, or what restaurant is going to be built on property, or who is building a grocery store nearby should all be taken with big grains of salt.

[gettingerb]

I'm sure as the population continues to grow more schools will pop up in that area.

Another neighborhood specific question - are you aware of any flooding that has occurred on the west side of the neighborhood along Mustang Bayou? It appears that some of the homes along Candlewood, Apache Plume and even Cliff Speria may be in the flood plain. A seller's disclosure for a home on Cliff Speria indicated they had flood insurance.

[ultimate_ed]

I live on Candlewood with Mustang Bayou behind my house. There was actually a hold during our construction as a survey error suggested foundation wasn't built high enough. It was finally confirmed that it was correct. We do carry flood insurance, though we're not required to. My wife went through a home flooding as a young girl, so we've always carried it on our homes. As I looked into the maps to double check, it would seem that part of our property at least is in the AE zone, which required the foundations and A/C pads be built up above the Base Flood Elevation. I think that was probably the concern during our survey after the foundation was done.

The property across Mustang Bayou is part of the drainage district - it's a wide flat area along the bayou that is well below our yards. I have seen storms that put water into that area, but it would take a helluva lot more rain to get them anywhere near to flooding our homes.

The "lakes" through the middle of the development are connected to the bayou and form a major retention area for flood control as well.

We've had some street flooding during a really heavy rain event that came down a little faster that the storm drains along the street could absorb. I actually recall that the east side of the neighborhood had a street flooding issue one time because some part of the storm drain system over there had a plug in it somewhere.

We've never had a case of Mustang Bayou overflowing and flooding houses in our neighborhood. This picture from a couple of years ago is the highest I've ever seen the bayou run after a couple of days of very heavy rain that lead to flooding in Houston.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by sentrywoods

Another factor is the school district. Pearland ISD is rated higher than Alvin ISD so a lot of people tend to want to be in Pearland ISD.

I'm surprised that Shadow Creek Ranch is in Alvin ISD, even if it's in Pearland city limits. It's pretty far to Alvin!

I heard that the Fort Bend side is trying to secede from FBISD to (presumably) Alvin ISD in line with the rest of the community. Similarly, the districting issue may come up for Cross Creek Ranch in Fulshear once it starts building out in the near future.

I'm just surprised that there isn't an active movement to secede from Alvin ISD to Pearland ISD for the Shadow Creek Ranch neighborhood of Pearland instead.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

I'm surprised that Shadow Creek Ranch is in Alvin ISD, even if it's in Pearland city limits. It's pretty far to Alvin!

I heard that the Fort Bend side is trying to secede from FBISD to (presumably) Alvin ISD in line with the rest of the community. Similarly, the districting issue may come up for Cross Creek Ranch in Fulshear once it starts building out in the near future.

I'm just surprised that there isn't an active movement to secede from Alvin ISD to Pearland ISD for the Shadow Creek Ranch neighborhood of Pearland instead.

It's likely that the district boundaries had been already set long before Shadow Creek Ranch was even built. District boundaries aren't always "logical".

Why not ask for Alvin ISD and Pearland ISD to merge into one another? Sugar Land ISD and Missouri City ISD did that in 1959, leading to the establishment of Fort Bend ISD.

[Mia888888]

I have same concern I love sedona lakes but didn’t like the middle and high school any future plans for another school?!!