Houston VS Dallas young family (Fort Worth, Arlington: construction, to live in, assess)

[VitaminB12]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

I think Montgomery County and Fort Bend do a better job of running its unincorporated areas than Harris County does. I’ll give those counties that.

I've always wondered what would happen if Cypress/Klein/Spring merged, could they artificially create a city with a million people? Would that affect federal or state funding?

I live in The Woodlands for now and it’s layout is far beyond anything else in the metro outside the city. Pockets of burbs west of Houston are a close second.

I grew up in SW Houston so Sugar Land was always the gold standard for me growing up, but I agree about The Woodlands and pockets of West Houston. I was zoned to Westbury High so I went to the magnet high school in West Houston and there's some fantastic neighborhoods back there (primarily north of Briar Forest).

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

I think Montgomery County and Fort Bend do a better job of running its unincorporated areas than Harris County does. I’ll give those counties that. I live in The Woodlands for now and it’s layout is far beyond anything else in the metro outside the city. Pockets of burbs west of Houston are a close second.

The Woodlands is one of the few "master planned communities" that was actually well planned. Most of them are traffic disasters.

[GreenBouy]

Originally Posted by bu2

The Woodlands is one of the few "master planned communities" that was actually well planned. Most of them are traffic disasters.

You think the woodlands is well planned, try living in the back of TW and driving out to 45 everyday, just to start your commute.

[hbcu]

Originally Posted by VitaminB12

I've always wondered what would happen if Cypress/Klein/Spring merged, could they artificially create a city with a million people? Would that affect federal or state funding?




I grew up in SW Houston so Sugar Land was always the gold standard for me growing up, but I agree about The Woodlands and pockets of West Houston. I was zoned to Westbury High so I went to the magnet high school in West Houston and there's some fantastic neighborhoods back there (primarily north of Briar Forest).

I grew up near Westbury - assuming you went to Westside that was a commute in itself. How did you deal with that? I know folks going to WS living in Sunnyside

[VitaminB12]

Originally Posted by hbcu

I grew up near Westbury - assuming you went to Westside that was a commute in itself. How did you deal with that? I know folks going to WS living in Sunnyside

Correct. I grew up near Braeburn Valley so I would take BW8 to Briar Forest then all the way. Briar Forest was the scenic route, but sometimes I'd take Westheimer. This was pre 2008 so the traffic was bad, but moved; I'd imagine that commute is much worse now.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

I think Montgomery County and Fort Bend do a better job of running its unincorporated areas than Harris County does. I’ll give those counties that. I live in The Woodlands for now and it’s layout is far beyond anything else in the metro outside the city. Pockets of burbs west of Houston are a close second.

The Woodlands is in the City of Houston's ETJ. It is the City of Houston that has the regulatory authority over The Woodlands' layout. Montgomery County mostly just provides engineering standards (like roadbase and pavement) for streets and requirements for drainage.

[LocalPlanner]

I sense that what a lot of folks don't like about Houston suburbs is the lack of sign control, required landscaping, and sidewalks along commercial streets. Basically, you don't like the base model of strip center development. I'll grant you that sign control and required landscaping in parking lots goes a very long way toward improving aesthetic appearance - you can tell that from the older grandfathered strip centers within the City of Houston vs. ones built after those requirements were put in place. Harris County actually adopted Houston's sign ordinance many years back but doesn't enforce it. DFW' suburbs obviously have tighter enforcement of these things.

Those things aren't "planning" however, they're aesthetic design standards (OK, requiring sidewalks is an infrastructure standard). If Harris County somehow could require and enforce these things - would that basically even up the comparison with DFW burbs?

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

I sense that what a lot of folks don't like about Houston suburbs is the lack of sign control, required landscaping, and sidewalks along commercial streets. Basically, you don't like the base model of strip center development. I'll grant you that sign control and required landscaping in parking lots goes a very long way toward improving aesthetic appearance - you can tell that from the older grandfathered strip centers within the City of Houston vs. ones built after those requirements were put in place. Harris County actually adopted Houston's sign ordinance many years back but doesn't enforce it. DFW' suburbs obviously have tighter enforcement of these things.

Those things aren't "planning" however, they're aesthetic design standards (OK, requiring sidewalks is an infrastructure standard). If Harris County somehow could require and enforce these things - would that basically even up the comparison with DFW burbs?

I think you're right about the landscaping, sidewalks, etc. but for me, the biggest issue in the Houston burbs is frankly the inconsistent road system, especially in western and southern Harris County. There are a ton of through streets that aren't completed and they make the freeway traffic so much worse than it has to be. DFW's road system is generally much more consistent and to me that's the biggest difference in terms of infrastructure.

From the perspective of the neighborhoods themselves, I think the DFW burbs appeal to those who like order moreso than the Houston burbs do, with the cookie-cutter neighborhoods, rear garages, and super strong HOAs. But like As Above said, burbs tend to appeal to the types of people that do value those types of things.

With that being said, Houston has some superb suburbs. I prefer Sugar Land over any individual DFW burb and I don't think there's one there that compares to The Woodlands in terms of aesthetics. There's just more good ones there.

[crone]

Originally Posted by WRM20

The biggest impediment to The Woodlands incorporating is the fact that the residents don't want to see their taxes increase when the new city has to provide its own police and fire.

Who provides it now? The county sheriff? Private security? They don't have any?

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

I sense that what a lot of folks don't like about Houston suburbs is the lack of sign control, required landscaping, and sidewalks along commercial streets. Basically, you don't like the base model of strip center development. I'll grant you that sign control and required landscaping in parking lots goes a very long way toward improving aesthetic appearance - you can tell that from the older grandfathered strip centers within the City of Houston vs. ones built after those requirements were put in place. Harris County actually adopted Houston's sign ordinance many years back but doesn't enforce it. DFW' suburbs obviously have tighter enforcement of these things.

Those things aren't "planning" however, they're aesthetic design standards (OK, requiring sidewalks is an infrastructure standard). If Harris County somehow could require and enforce these things - would that basically even up the comparison with DFW burbs?

Its not that. Ask yourself if you had to spend your life in one suburb and never go into Houston or Dallas or Fort Worth, which would you pick?

DFW simply has a lot more of places to choose from that would make that easy because the suburbs are so self sustaining and offer a lot more. The only one in Houston that really competes is the Woodlands and maybe Sugar Land.