The small city of Montgomery, in Montgomery County north of Houston, has a council agenda next week that reads like a growth checklist: a new Lowe's Home Improvement store, the final plat for its first H-E-B and a study of how to expand a wastewater system that is projected to fall well short of demand by 2030.
The Montgomery City Council will take up those items and several others at its Oct. 27 meeting, Community Impact reported.
A Lowe's on 9 acres
The council will consider an escrow agreement between the city and Lowe's Home Improvement. According to Community Impact, the agreement says Lowe's plans to buy and develop a 9.12-acre tract called the Buffalo Stewart Crossing Tract.
Under the agreement, Lowe's would pay into an escrow fund to reimburse the city for costs of overseeing the development. A contract in the council's agenda documents shows Lowe's will pay $7,000 into the fund. A site plan places the store between C.B. Stewart Drive and Buffalo Spring Road.
H-E-B's final plat
Montgomery's first H-E-B is close to opening. The council will consider approving the final plat for the grocery store at the southeast corner of Hwy. 105 and FM 2854. Community Impact reports H-E-B is paying the city $165,950 in impact fees, and the store is expected to open in mid-November.
Wastewater capacity
The item with the longest reach may be a proposed analysis of the city's wastewater treatment plant capacity.
According to a memo from the city's engineering consultant cited by Community Impact, Montgomery's wastewater flow averages 225,000 gallons per day now and is expected to hit 700,000 gallons per day by 2030. The city's two current treatment plants have capacity for 400,000 gallons per day. Future plants and upgrades under consideration would raise the combined capacity to 1.4 million gallons per day.
The city would pay $60,900 for the consultant's analysis.
Put simply, the projected 2030 flow is more than three times what the city handles today and about 75% more than its existing plants can treat. The planned expansions to 1.4 million gallons per day would give the city about double its projected 2030 flow. According to Community Impact, the analysis is meant to help the city learn how best to accommodate that future growth.
Other items
Community Impact reports the council will also:
- Hold a public hearing on allowing a 7Brew drive-thru coffee shop at Eva Street and Buffalo Springs Drive.
- Consider a $500,000 grant from the Montgomery Economic Development Corporation to renovate the historic Garrett / Rabon Fullen House, which was recently moved downtown and is planned to become retail space.
- Hear a presentation on $800,000 in upgrades planned for Cedar Brake Park, including a new playground.
- Discuss hiring a communications and events manager.
The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers at Montgomery City Hall, 101 Old Plantersville Road.
Why it matters for contractors
Montgomery is a small city on the edge of the Houston region's growth, and this agenda shows what's coming. A big-box home improvement store and a new H-E-B are signs that national retailers see enough rooftops to justify building there. Each project brings sitework, paving, utilities and commercial construction, and each new store tends to pull in pad sites and strip retail around it.
The wastewater numbers are the bigger signal. If the consultant's projection holds, the city's flow would be well above its current plant capacity by 2030. That points to treatment plant expansions or new plants, along with lift stations and collection lines, in the next several years. Utility and civil contractors, along with engineering firms, should follow what this study recommends and when those projects are scheduled for bidding.
Smaller jobs are on the agenda too. The historic house renovation and the Cedar Brake Park upgrades are the kind of local projects that small and mid-size contractors in Montgomery County can go after. Watch the city's bid postings after the Oct. 27 meeting.