{"id":418095,"date":"2026-08-27T09:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418095\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T09:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:36:22","slug":"houston-to-confirm-no-intention-to-annex-woodlands-under-50-million-agreement-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418095\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston to confirm \u2018no intention\u2019 to annex Woodlands under $50 million agreement \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

Chris Paul\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n

The Woodlands Waterway runs through the master planned township.<\/p>\n

The city of Houston would agree to not absorb the sprawling Woodlands Township as part of a $50 million agreement<\/a> considered by the city council on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

In exchange for a series of payments from a joint city-township fund over the next three years, Houston would “affirm that it has no intention to annex” the master-planned community of more than 110,000 people. <\/p>\n

Houston City Council member Edward Pollard tagged the item on Wednesday, delaying the city\u2019s vote by one week. The township was slated to consider its side of the agreement at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Pollard told reporters he didn\u2019t \u201chave any reservation at the moment\u201d but was seeking further discussion before a final vote. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou just want to make sure it\u2019s the best deal,\u201d Pollard said. \u201cYou can just think always of the short term and grab what\u2019s there today, but you have to think about maybe some of the unintended consequences for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor John Whitmire called the agreement a “win-win for Houston and one of its neighbors.” Brad Bailey, chairman of the Woodlands Township, agreed. <\/p>\n

The measure \u201cwould give the city some short-term relief on their obligations [and] give the Woodlands the ability to finally put to bed the annexation thing,” Bailey said.<\/p>\n

Representatives for the Howard Hughes Corporation \u2014 which plans and manages the community \u2014 did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Annexation looms large over unincorporated communities near Houston. The city absorbed the well-to-do Kingwood neighborhood in 1996, despite fierce pushback from many of the approximately 50,000 residents at the time. <\/p>\n

In 2017, the Texas Legislature approved a measure ending forced annexation. Instead, residents in an area up for absorption must approve the move before it can proceed. <\/p>\n

By forestalling annexation, the city of Houston passes on a significant source of revenue. The Woodlands Township forecasts nearly $51 million in property tax collection<\/a> in 2027 \u2014 with a tax rate three times lower than Houston’s \u2014 as well as nearly $43 million in sales tax revenue. <\/p>\n

“I’m supportive of it, and I think it’s a win-win,” said Sallie Alcorn, chair of the Houston City Council’s budget and fiscal affairs committee, which will discuss the proposal next week on Tuesday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Paul\/Houston Public Media The Woodlands Waterway runs through the master planned township. The city of Houston would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[13232,3766,56,4626,58,5760,57,145679,66,4476,223,6608,19157,12042,145680],"class_list":["post-418095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-annexation","tag-city-of-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-city-council","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-mayor","tag-houston-news","tag-howard-hughes-corporation","tag-local","tag-mayor-john-whitmire","tag-news","tag-property-tax","tag-sales-tax","tag-the-woodlands","tag-woodlands-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}