When we moved into the Woodlands over 25 years ago, we anticipated that the property below our neighborhood bordered by McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard would eventually be developed. The Shell station and the transport station, for the most part, have been good neighbors and recently we’re seeing a water treatment facility under construction. None of these have been an affront to the character or security of our community. Recently however, this particular corner seems to have become a “speakers corner“ where large groups of people gather to protest or register a political position. This has already been disruptive to traffic and at times unsettling to those of us who live and work nearby.
Now, within the past week, we have learned of the California Judicial Council’s plan to build an eight-story courthouse on the remaining parcel. Approval of these plans appears to be imminent. We are left to wonder, how has the state been able to make a unilateral decision without any input from the community most affected by it? How and why this has flown under the radar for so long and why are we just being made aware of it with the deadline for comment just days away? The very idea of an eight-story building, (becoming the tallest in the area), which will at times host a criminal element in a residential area that has already seen civil unrest, is disturbing to say the least.
With this letter, I wish to express my objection to this proposed construction in the strongest possible terms. No doubt entities in the surrounding area, retail, commercial and residential, would strongly object once they are made aware of this proposal. Decency (and the law?) requires that at the very least the time for public comment should be extended beyond the holidays and well into the New Year. This would allow for notification of all concerned.
Denzel Brenner
Valencia
