In her last town hall meeting, held October 18 at the Community Room at Legacy Stadium at 1830 Katyland Drive in Katy, Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones provided updates to infrastructure projects currently underway or planned for the greater Katy area.

Joining Briones on stage for the presentation were Precinct 5 Constable Terry Allbritton and Harris County Flood Control District Executive Director Tina Petersen, and Precinct 4 staff members Dan Dmytryshyn, who handles infrastructure policy and planning and Jessica Wiggins, manager of community planning.

During her remarks, Briones described several infrastructure projects now in progress, including:

· Continuation of sidewalk construction, with $16 million allotted for phase two.

· Katy Fort Bend Road expansion, now in the design phase, involving the roadway from near the Boardwalk development to the north.

· Cane Island branch drainage study, to mitigate flood hazard conditions.

Peterson also listed flood control projects now in progress that affect the Katy area, as part of the flood control maintenance bond package that was passed by voters in 2024.

· Improvements to the Barker and Addicks Reservoirs, including the planned excavation and removal of 300,000 dump trucks of sediment at the former Bear Creek golf course.

· An expenditure of $35 million in bond funds to continue investment in the Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Resiliency Study.

· Maintenance projects throughout the county will focus on erosion repair, sediment removal and channel repair.

Dmytryshyn said that a temporary traffic signal would be installed at Clay Road and Katy Hockley Road in 2026, with another signal planned for Katy Hockley Road and Stockdick School Road. He also listed other projects:

· Greenhouse sidewalks – installation of four miles of sidewalks connecting communities to schools in Katy ISD and CyFair ISD.

· Road upgrades from two to four lanes to improve traffic flow, including Clay Road, Stockdick School Road, Peek Road and Porter Road.

Wiggins described two planned projects:

· One will redesign nine key intersections and corridors identified in the Harris County Vision Zero High-Injury Network as locations where serious injuries occur; causes will be investigated and improvements developed.

· Development of Mason Road into a “complete street” to improve safety, access and mobility for all road users, while preserving the “cultural assets” of the area. The project will include a multi-use path, a bus shelter, transit connectivity, pedestrian scale lighting and shade trees.

The presenters, along with Allbritton, fielded questions from attendees following the slide presentations. More than 100 residents turned out for the event.

While there had been rumors on social media that protesters would appear at the meeting to express outrage at Briones’ decision to offer Bear Creek Park as an alternate location for the Katy Pride celebration (see related story on page 1), a significant number did not materialize. Only one person – who came in late, carrying a large photo of Charlie Kirk and who left early – was observed inside the meeting and there were no protesters outside the venue before or after the town hall.