Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine April 2017 | Page 2

From The President / CEO
Steve Paterson
Why Have A Plan?
Why does League City need a comprehensive development plan? This was a question I was
asked the other day from one of our members. This member is an individual who does not
like the government in your life or more taxes ever, so this was going to be a hard question
to answer, which would satisfy this individual. I said, you know that is a great question and
let me think on it and get back to you. I do not believe it is a simple matter and has many
different answers based on different needs by individuals. So, I did spend some time on that
question and here is my response.
The main reason for a comprehensive plan for League City is we need to have a vision for
what we can do to make sure we retain a quality of life, which will be able to be sustained.
We need to make sure we have a stable tax base that allows for sustainability for the coming
generations and does not depend on residential taxes to pay for most of our city’s needs.
Unfortunately, the answer is not adding more homes. The cost to maintain the needs for
subdivisions once they are built and turned over to the city is not enough to maintain the
existing infrastructure or that of the future needs to replace.
The forty-eight percent of the land which is still developable needs to be reviewed and zoning
needs to be enacted to make sure the most beneficial use of that land be accomplished to
generate revenue for the community to meet the needs of the city’s future without causing
future hardship on home owners. To do this, you must have a master comprehensive plan
which allows the city to control how that land is best utilized to generate jobs and taxes.
This also enables the proper economic development to be done to do so. The goal is to bring
employers in who pay high wages and build real estate which adds greatly to the city’s tax
base so residents can enjoy the amenities this will bring and the quality of life is enhanced.
Fast food places and strip centers do not accomplish this task. Without a well thought
out plan we will see speculated development, which will benefit the investors and not the
residents of the city. Planned economic development will be the cities way to meeting the
issues of the future and the present. Without a plan there will be no vision of what can be. If
not, we will look back at a missed opportunity.
Steve Paterson