East of The Woodlands, Oak Ridge North seeks city center of its own

Oak Ridge North is about one square mile of suburbia in all its grid-patterned glory, with tree-studded streets, ranch-style houses and easy freeway access.

But nearly 40 years after the Montgomery County community incorporated, it's still missing a vibrant city heart where people might gather at night or dine outdoors, browse, linger.

So while other Houston-area suburbs build up and out to accommodate rapid growth, Oak Ridge wants to build a civic center for the people already living in the leafy enclave. The town has about 3,000 residents - not too many more than when it incorporated four decades ago. And there isn't room for a population boom.

"It's about improving and moving forward," said Vicky Rudy, Oak Ridge North's city manager.

The desire for a town center, with places to eat, shop and play, reflects an emerging preference for living in more urbanized places - even in far-flung suburbs with car-oriented cultures.

A recent survey by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research found four in 10 people in Montgomery and Fort Bend counties say they would prefer to live within walking distance of work, restaurants and shops. Nearly half of those polled in Harris County say they want walkable communities, too.

That wasn't on Cleo Tarver's mind when he moved to Oak Ridge in 1973. He was drawn by the tall trees, large lots and affordable prices - all of which outweighed his commute downtown, some 30 miles away.

And over the years it didn't seem to matter that he and his neighbors had to go to The Woodlands or elsewhere for groceries, meals or movies. But the craving for a town center, as well as more parks and trails, became apparent in recent years as the city gathered public input for its first comprehensive plan.

"Oak Ridge really was just a subdivision," said Tarver, chairman of the city's planning and zoning commission. "But it's like a house. Sometimes you have to make upgrades to keep it relevant."

Oak Ridge is unusual among cities in the eight-county region because it began as a neighborhood. It incorporated in 1979 as a way to block annexation by Houston, which was expanding to the north at the time.

Unlike Galveston and Katy, the new city was not built around a business district or railroad stop. There was no master plan like in The Woodlands, the neighboring community to the west that began in 1974 and has grown to nearly 110,000 people without becoming a full-fledged city.

Oak Ridge initially had no city administrator, no public works department, no employees of any kind. "If we needed a street sign, we put it up ourselves," said John Planchard, a member of Oak Ridge's first city council.

The city in time added staff and created a police department, but dawdled pleasantly on planning and development while other suburbs matured. For example, Shenandoah, which has about as many residents as Oak Ridge but sits on the opposite side of Interstate 45, established a commercial presence on both sides of the freeway, enabling it to collect taxes from hotels, restaurants and big-box stores, among others.

Oak Ridge also claims a mile of I-45 frontage, but it wasn't until recently that the city started to restrict and guide what could be built there. Meanwhile, Robinson Road, which bisects the city, hasn't changed much - except for traffic.

Before Oak Ridge can build a town center, the city of more than 3,000 must realign and widen Robinson, the once-quiet street that has become a busy commuter artery. With subdivisions sprouting east of the town, the two-lane road now carries some 16,000 cars a day - a number that is expected to double within the next 25 years.

But the road project is on hold after voters in May rejected a $350 million bond package for new and improved roadways across Montgomery County amid heavy opposition in The Woodlands to a proposed road extension. Oak Ridge, Shenandoah and The Woodlands have asked county leaders to place a revised measure on the November ballot for urgent needs.

Oak Ridge cannot and should not pay for the $9 million realignment on its own, Rudy said.

"Robinson is a regional thoroughfare that wasn't designed to be one," she said. "We can't ask a city of 1,300 homes and 3,000 residents to fix a problem of this magnitude."

At the same time, the problem has created the opening for a town center. The road's realignment, as designed, would produce a new triangular space - bounded by the new and old Robinson Roads and Hanna Road - for a town center.

Preliminary concepts include cafes, shops and boutiques in two- and three-story buildings, on-street parking along a new four-lane Robinson Road and green space with an amphitheater, plaza and splash pad.

The town already owns some of the land, and it would move City Hall to the north side of the old Robinson Road to create space for the plaza. But the road realignment and civic center likely will require removing houses along the street, as well as the Oak Ridge Reformed Baptist Church and its school.

Jess Larson, the church's senior pastor and school headmaster, said the city's plan would make it impossible to stay, while the uncertainty hurts its ability to receive the best possible price for the 3-acre property.

Larson also said he isn't certain that residents want a civic center, considering the county's bond measure failed by a 16-point margin at the polling location on Robinson Road.

"We work and live in this community because it feels quieter and safer and slightly untouched by all of the big development happening all around us," Larson said. "If we need 'Market Street,' it is across (I-45) in The Woodlands. Widening Robinson road and smoothing it out for traffic will only invite more traffic and effectively cut our small community in half - losing what we so love."

But Planchard, whose wife, Frances, is now on the City Council, said it isn't realistic for Oak Ridge to stand pat, as it did for so many years.

"It's easier to do in the beginning than to come back later," Planchard said of a city center. "But we have an opportunity to capitalize on the traffic problems. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade."