Management districts are special districts created by the Texas Legislature. Generally, these districts are empowered to promote, develop, encourage and maintain employment, commerce, transportation, water and sewerage improvements, housing, tourism, recreation, arts, entertainment, economic development, safety and public welfare. Typically, management districts are given the power to finance their operations by issuing bonds or other obligations, payable in whole or in part as valorem taxes, assessments, impact fees or other funds of the district to provide improvements and services.
The Board of Directors of Harris County Improvement District No. 15 has submitted a petition requesting the City of Houston’s consent to add a 1.2542-acre tract of land and acknowledgement of the exclusion of another 1.2542-acre tract of land. The District currently overlays a non-contiguous parcel of land (1.2542 acres), which is raw or undeveloped land with no facilities associated with such area. A proposed rail line will be running through this small parcel, and the District desires to substitute such land with another 1.2542-acre raw land located very close to the existing District boundaries. The District hopes to de-annex its currently covered land but has sold bonds and therefore must perform a land substitution pursuant to Texas Water Code Sections 54.739-54.747 to achieve this result. The cost of serving both parcels is identical, as certified by the District engineer and as a result, this land swap has no effect on bonds. This district will be located entirely outside the District E portion of the City of Houston in its Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction, to the north of the Ship Channel. Following city consent to the land swap within the district, the District’s Board of Directors will continue improvement projects that include water, sewer and drainage improvements, road improvements to support development, transit improvements, landscaping and median improvements, parks and recreational facilities, and navigation improvements to support development of business and industry in the District.
A management district is intended to supplement, not supplant, existing public services. The inclusion of land to this district would not release the City of Houston from its obligations to provide services to the area, nor does it require additional services from the City. The City assumes no liability for the debts, obligations or liabilities of the district.
The Planning and Development Department recommends that City Council consent to the annexation of the 1.2542-acre tract into Harris County Improvement District No. 15 and acknowledge the exclusion of a separate 1.2542-acre tract from the District.
____________________________________________
Margaret Wallace Brown, AICP, CNU-A
Director
Planning and Development Department