'They go to The Woodlands' Why some suburbs age better than others

Market Street in The Woodlands.﻿ Market Street in The Woodlands.﻿ Photo: Market Street - The Woodlands Photo: Market Street - The Woodlands Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close 'They go to The Woodlands' 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

My latest Greater Houston column, which questioned the premise that bringing mass transportation service into a community causes increased crime, prompted critical emails from several readers who live or have lived in neighborhoods along FM 1960 in northwest Harris County. These readers are convinced that the extension of Metro bus service to that area led to deteriorating conditions.

Some readers also laid blame on apartment developments, drawing a connection between apartments and mass transit.

"Who rides the buses?" a man who said he had lived in the area since 1976 asked in an email to me. "Only people from the apartments."

For this and other reasons, this reader wrote, "no professional families with children move into our neighborhoods, they go to The Woodlands."

It's certainly true that The Woodlands, a master-planned community in southern Montgomery County, is flourishing while the FM 1960 area struggles. And The Woodlands does not have local bus service, although it does have a busy park and ride service, The Woodlands Express, that brings commuters into Houston every weekday. Metro started its 86 FM 1960 route in September 1990.

But correlation is not causation, as anyone who has ever taken a statistics course knows. Let's examine some other possible reasons why The Woodlands is faring better than the FM 1960 area:

-- Starting conditions: When the late George P. Mitchell opened The Woodlands in 1974, he had an advantage over most suburban developers: His company owned the entire site, which now covers some 44 square miles. This made it possible to achieve a consistent design as the development gradually built out over the next four decades.

The FM 1960 area, in contrast, includes numerous subdivisions built at different times by different developers to serve different segments of the market. It's a hodgepodge.

-- Design standards: The Woodlands and FM 1960 are both in unincorporated areas, which means there is no city government to impose zoning or other land-use controls. But The Woodlands, through restrictive covenants, has imposed strict design standards for residential and commercial property. Perhaps the most obvious benefit is restrictions on signs that prevented the visual clutter evident along FM 1960.

-- Amenities: Tree-shaded hike and bike paths wind through The Woodlands, parks and green space are plentiful, and an attractive town center provides a focal point and gathering place for activity. Few of these features exist in the neighborhoods along FM 1960.

Community leaders are working hard to improve conditions in the FM 1960 area, but they lack many of the tools that helped make The Woodlands successful. They've got a lot more to worry about than buses and apartments.