The Conroe City Council did not take action on Thursday on Willis ISD's petitions for a tree ordinance variance and the annexation of a new school campus. Both topics died without any debate.
Willis ISD made two requests on Thursday: one for a variance to a tree ordinance and the other for the voluntary annexation of a new school site. The Conroe City Council did not make a motion on either request.
The district asked for an exception to Conroe's tree law that would have allowed its 109-acre school complex to stay in place until 2027. Willis ISD sought to have the city annex its new elementary school at 8150 MP Clark Road, which is within Conroe's extraterritorial jurisdiction, as a separate agenda item. Council members did not discuss either topic before they ended.
The demands followed Willis ISD's August complaint, which said Conroe did not provide water service to Calfee Middle School on time, right before the start of the school year. Before classes started, water service was restored. However, the case will go to a jury trial in April in the 457th State District Court.
Conroe's tree law has been a hot topic for years. The guidelines were relaxed in 2018 to give developers more freedom. They were first put in place in 2013. In 2022, a new council changed its mind and made it harder to cut down many trees as growth sped up across Montgomery County.
Jerry McCrorey, an engineer for Willis ISD, said the stricter standards were complicating the district's efforts to expand the campus that houses Willis High School, Turner Elementary, the district's Career and Technology Center, and sports facilities. Voters approved a $218.1 million bond package in May 2024 that includes the expansion.
McCrorey said, "The requests are necessary to make the school district's facilities bigger while also following the purpose and intent of the City of Conroe Vegetation Ordinance."
The district asked the city to waive some Tree Preservation Zone rules so they could add more parking spaces at the high school. The request asked for trees to be planted in a public easement, for the requirement that parking lots not next to property boundaries have plants removed, and for the installation of trees to be put off until 2027.
Michael Gabrielse of Acer Forestry Solutions, who testified for the district, stated, "We are short about 81,000 square feet of credit." "We are putting about 130 or 140 trees. We are planting a lot more trees than we are cutting down. Many of these trees will be in heavily used areas.
Gabrielse remarked that the site has been around for decades and offers little room for change. He answered, "That is just how this site has always been." "The design offers minimal flexibility."
After the meeting, Willis ISD did not reply to calls for comment.
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