Not attacking.

Just fact finding.

Information gathering.

And, exactly what is wrong with that?

If, M.Galland wants to discuss and convince the Doubting Thomas’ by presenting information other than the artist renderings, etc, then the floor is open to him.

So, to M.Galland, sir, I am NOT attacking you, your dream, or the folks who invest, or believe in you, or your venture. It’s the “Great American Dream.” However, it, and you, should be able to withstand a mere 95 posts on blog.

Currently we only know the location and a very rough sketch and that Mr. Galland is looking for investors.

Nothing concrete has been presented to the city yet other than concepts. The city council was good holding this, but they can’t rule yes or no on anything until it’s submitted. A re-plat and appeal needs to be sent to the zoning board. On top of that, the developer has to get some site engineering to happen to see if he could even pull it off. He may have had some preliminary due diligence done to estimate cost and technical hurdles.

Also, townhall meetings like this always have more opposition that proponents. You tell me one public meeting TxDOT has ever had where they had more proponents show up than opposed? METRO has pretty much the same problem.

The speakers for the opposition should also be commended for the courage to stand up in a public forum and speak candidly.

The GT gang made no compelling statements regarding their support of GT. Why was that? No conviction behind the project?

The issues put before the City Council and Mayor were well stated and accurately represented the concerns presented previously in this blog. M.Galland did not provide any answers. It would have been helpful to his side had he presented studies to prove the claims he has made with regard to traffic, noise, etc. One note he did indicate that he has some information about putting mufflers on the firearms they will be using at GT. We need more information on that. It was noticed that several folks found that particular statement a little hard to swallow.

Becky made another great observation by pointing out that monies Monty has envisioned being spent in Tomball won’t likely be spent in any other venue than at GT. Folks will drive straight to the park, spend their money there, and then drive straight home; they won’t likely spend their money outside of the park. Good point. I’ve done the same when I’ve made a day out of going through Plantersville to the Renaissance Festival.

Qestions I would like to pose to M.Galland - just exactly when, where, and to whom did you pitch this, or a similar idea of a theme park? And, why did it fail?

And, he’s adept at playing the victim “… I didn’t know the power of a press release…”? Oh, come on M.Galland! You knew the power of the press otherwise you wouldn’t have taken advantage of a press release. Good grief. Who do you think you’re fooling?

Don’t think for a moment that what you say or do go will go unnoticed. We’re all watching to see what kind of man you are, what your ethics are, and who or what you are willing to sacrifice for your dream.

And, I commend those folks who showed up with M.Galland. That took some guts, too.

JustKeepingItReal

The meeting was well attended, with an overflow crowd that had many ending up standing in the room or out in the hallway. I counted about 12 people wearing Grand Texas stickers. It would be interesting knowing how many are employees of Ed Fitch, Monty Galland’s partner. Of course they had the right to be there, and one would hope they weren’t pressured into it.

Anyone who attends is allowed to fill out a form with checkboxes to indicate being in favor or against a subject on the agenda. I didn’t have a notepad with me, so I’m working from memory, but as the votes were called out, I tallied only 5 votes in favor of Grand Texas, at least 26 against.

It seems curious that few, if any, of the Grand Texas sticker wearers voted, though even if they had there were not enough of them to change the result.

Monty was given the chance to give a presentation on the project. That’s only fair, since this was an information gathering meeting. Unfortunately, despite some pretty good Powerpoint slides, it felt more like an infommercial and sales pitch rather than a genuine reply to people’s concerns.

I also noted after he was done, the only applause was from, guess who, the sticker wearers.

What governmental agencies are irritated?

The city of Tomball only cares when it becomes an agenda item for the zoning board. Until then, the developer can say whatever they want to plan to do there.

People really should be worked up about this until it actually becomes an item before the board. Until then, it’s just talk.

Second, Silverado 19 is in an excellent location, it’s highly visible off 249 and easy to access. Grand Texas can only be reached by a pair of one lane roads, and the park would be largely invisible until you are almost on top of it.

Third, the developers of Silverado 19 went through the proper zoning and permitting procedures, they did not go to the media ahead of time with a bunch grandiose plans, before a single proposal had been submitted. They also had the funding in place ahead of time. Grand Texas has done none of this.

Grand Texas is a poorly thought out business plan with an approach that seems designed to irritate as many people as possible, including not only nearby residents but also the government agencies needed to make it happen.

You might want to check with your Harris County Precint representative. They currently putting the word out for engineering firms to do the design work on Huffsmith-Korhville Road widening.

Design work is anticipated to begin near the fall or end of the year. That typically means the construction is about 2-3 years out depending on funding. Unlike other governmental entities, Harris County isn’t really short on funds. This project is pretty much full steam ahead.

The HGAC documents you refer to are only planning documents that can change at any time. The city of Tomball is likely the one having it pushed ahead of the HGAC schedule by asking Harris County to move forward.