At its October 6 meeting, the Manvel City Council examined a draft of the city’s comprehensive and major thoroughfare plan, presented by Houston-based planning firm Kendig Keast Collaborative. The plan aims to guide the city’s growth over the next 10 to 20 years, focusing on transportation, land use, and community character.
Transportation Network Revisions
The draft plan proposes several changes to the city’s transportation network to improve traffic flow and connectivity:
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Highways 288 and 6: Highway 288 is designated as a limited-access highway, while Highway 6 is identified as the primary roadway for moving traffic in and out of the city.
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Local Roadways: The plan classifies local roads into parkways, arterials, and collectors:
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Parkways: Designed to carry higher volumes of traffic across the city.
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Arterials: Facilitate travel from point A to point B.
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Collectors: Move traffic into and out of specific neighborhoods or parts of the city, connecting them to the major roadway network.
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Notable proposed changes include:
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Maintaining Kirby Drive as an arterial due to right-of-way considerations and its proximity to Airline Road.
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Converting Patterson Road into a full collector to better distribute traffic to larger framing roads, including Lira and Masters roads.
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Extending Cemetery Road south of Highway 6 and introducing a new collector line to connect Cemetery Road to Masters Road.
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Extending Iowa Lane south of Highway 6.
Land Use and Community Character
The draft plan introduces a future land use map as a “growth management tool” for Manvel. The map categorizes future land use into:
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Rural preservation
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Estate residential
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Suburban residential
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Master-planned development
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Commercial
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Industrial
The plan emphasizes:
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Directing the most intensive future development toward the Highway 288 and Highway 6 corridors.
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Designating the city’s edges and extraterritorial jurisdiction for estate residential and rural preservation to maintain a rural atmosphere.
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Including multifamily residential or apartments in areas planned for master-planned developments.
Community Feedback and Concerns
While the City Council supported the overall goal of using the major thoroughfare plan as a “growth management tool,” concerns were raised over specific roadway classifications:
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Patterson Road: Council Member David Lands expressed a desire to preserve the historical trees along Patterson Road, stating, “I want to preserve history for Manvel, and these trees are history.” He preferred to keep Patterson Road as it is without widening.
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Multifamily Housing: Mayor Dan Davis voiced opposition to including apartments in future master-planned developments, citing potential negative impacts on city services and community character.
Next Steps
The draft plan is still in its preliminary stages. The city plans to present the plan to the public through upcoming public hearings, which will likely lead to further revisions. Future City Council workshops will address additional aspects of the comprehensive and major thoroughfare plan, including:
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Environmental considerations
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Growth capacity
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Economic development
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Recreation and amenities
These workshops aim to gather community input and refine the plan to better serve Manvel’s future growth and development.
