What had happened to MPC trees? (The Woodlands, Bellaire: new house, neighborhoods, construction)

[DejaBlue]

I drove around around Bridgeland yesterday. Being open minded and just getting a feel. The section I looked around, I believe Lakeland Village had a cute little soccer game going on with tons of people and cars just taking over the 2 lane road. Lots of families, people jogging, etc. Nice feel BUT the lack of trees bothered me.


WHY is this the new thing. CD realtors chime in please on what you know. Almost all new neighborhoods have attached garages and twigs for trees that take years to grow. Bridgeland for me looked like those aerial views of tract housing in California with the red roofs. Just rows and rows of the same houses smack dab next to each other and way too big. I liked the community feel but I'm a homebody. I need my space and lot and yard to fit me. I like shade, trees and a detach garage and some space between houses.



I feel like most houses are about the same distance BUT in the olden days, trees blocked so much you didn't realize how close you were to your neighbor. OR the detach garage gave some space so if windows were open, everyone wouldn't look literally looking in.



The Woodlands really struck gold with creating a real community with shade and peacefulness. Even with the traffic, in this heat it feels bearable with some shade on your car and you jogging, biking, etc.


Are any new communities similar with actual trees? For me, new is 2000-present.



What has happened to the trees????

[Synott]

Every single newer community has saplings planted that take time to grow. It’s ALWAYS been like this, builders don’t find it cost effective to plant mature trees next to new construction homes.

I don’t ever remember seeing a brand new house that had a mature tree next to it.

[hbcu]

If there are trees you pay a high price but these MPCs only want a certain type of tree anyway as alot of trees are trash trees in open fields

If there’s an area of old oaks they’ll preserve it and charge you nicely

[haudi]

Uh, you realize Bridgeland was a cow pasture on the Katy Prairie before it was an MPC, right? There were no trees there, or hardly anywhere near there. Woodlands is called the Woodlands because that area was largely forested before there was a community there. What happened to the trees you ask? Well, nothing. They didn't exist there before Bridgeland did. Have you not noticed how different the landscape is north of 290?

[3shipguy]

New homes plus mature trees... start looking in non-MPC like GOOF, Heights, Bellaire, Meyerland, etc. Builders don’t usually plant mature trees but try to preserve the existing old oak or pine trees. Be prepare to pay though.

[marksmu]

1. Its very expensive to do a tree survey and pick and tag which trees stay and which trees go - so they all go. 2. A good deal of the new construction is built on an area that floods or has flooded so much of it has largely been built up quite a bit. I've seen some MPC's built up more than several feet. A mature tree would not survive having 2-4 feet of dirt over its base.

[mikeyyc]

Echoing what others have said. If you want mature trees go to a neighborhood where they carve the lots out of the trees. Like the Woodlands, or Sienna Plantation, or Riverstone. Developing cow pasture and rice paddies takes some time to get the timber in.

[fbf2006]

Look between 290 and 249, you'll find trees. That's one reason I live here.

The trees definitely help feeling a little more secluded even with houses in close proximity. Where I lived in the Northeast, the lots were quite small but due to the trees, there was some semblance of privacy.

[NTexas2010]

As mentioned by others, if you are looking in areas that were previously farmland / pasture / oil fields, you aren't going to see many native trees.

One area that comes to mind that are going to have native trees in new development is Fulshear - there is a decent amount of native or mature trees in the MPCS around this area and the city itself has tree ordinances that encourage keeping existing trees and/or planting more mature ones during development.

[Synott]

Alief is a nice area that used to be a dairy farmland, most of the trees here were planted by men