Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine November 2017 | Page 6

Steve Paterson
President & CEO
League City Regional Chamber
Purpose Driven Planning
When fishing you have time to think. Out on the water in nature
viewing birds, fish and porpoise as well as the beautiful shorelines
and waters. It gives you plenty of time to reflect as you have your
head literally in the clouds and no interruptions or pressing matters
to disrupt our time to reflect. It was a much-needed wind down.
During this time my mind wandered to the past week to reflect on
the past year and especially the past two months.
For the past year, a group of hard working citizens and public
servants have been trying to develop a plan to make sure the
existing land to be developed as well as developed land will meet
the needs for the future citizens. The purpose desired is a quality of
life, which is maintained, and a city that is financially stable to meet
the community’s needs for the future. To avoid the pitfalls, which
has beleaguered many cities as they moved forward without a well
thought out comprehensive master plan.
Hurricane Harvey has raised additional questions, which need to be
answered. Will the city have infrastructure and drainage in place to
handle hurricanes, tropical depressions and storm surge as sea
levels continue to rise? In 1968, before all the growth we have seen
in northern Galveston County, it was recognized that a plan needed
to be put in place to mitigate the flooding of Clear Creek. It is
evident that some form of infrastructure planning will need to be
done to mitigate flooding and storm surge for Dickinson Bayou to
protect League City, Dickinson, Santa Fe, Hitchcock and Alvin. This
will mean a conscience effort by our governing bodies to realize
that well thought out, stringent and disciplined planning with
committed strong leadership must make sure that a guided and
funded plan is implemented for the long-term. That successive
elected leadership holds fast to the plan and in fact when
opportunity arises to strengthen it if technology moves forward to
enable it to be accomplished.
Citizens must realize that all of this will cost money. We all know that
things never cost less as we move forward. League City and
Galveston County in general need to make sure we have a
balanced and diversified tax base, so we can afford the future we all
want. Through a comprehensive master plan paired with well
thought out economic development in a purpose driven manner
this can be accomplished. Business development will provide jobs,
that will fuel sales taxes and expand our tax base, which in turn will
lessen the tax burden placed on residents. All of this can only take
place through purpose driven planning.
Steve Paterson
2017 Board of Directors
Chairman, Ray Soto
Soto Financial & Insurance
Treasurer, Charlton Cotton
Norman Frede Chevrolet
Secretary, Jason Long
UTMB
Past Chairwoman, Jill Kaiser
UFCU
2018 Incoming Chairwoman, Rebecca Lilley
Memorial Hermann
2019 Incoming Chairman, Bill Provenzano Hometown
Bank of League City
Laura Dupont
CCISD
Gloria Greene
Elite Care 24 Hour ER
Julie Howell
Lakewood Yacht Club
Matthew Mathias
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center
Dr. Warren Nichols
College of the Mainland
Bix Rathburn
RPC Consulting
Dan Seal
BAHEP
Becky Trout
UTMB Health
Teresa Vencil
Haute Flowers & Finds
Peter Wuenschel
CIS - Bay Area
John Baumgartner
Ex-Officio, City of League City
Theresa Rodriquez
Ex-Officio, Baytran
Lisa Howard
Ex-Officio, HOT Tax Board
Laura Teatsworth - Peggy Zahler
Ex-Officio, HOA Alliance
Amanda Fenwick
Ex-Officio, Mayor Pro Tem, Clear Lake Shores