20 Jul 2006 10:01 pm
I noticed this evening that Coles Crossing does not use the “To the trees” slogan on their website. The slogan they are using now is “come and see”.
Come and see?!?! What does that mean?
To be honest, I’m not sure if that is better or worse than “To the trees”. At least with “To the trees”, I understood the point they were trying to get across. The issue with that slogan was that seemingly every time I drive out of the neighborhood (I am a Coles Crossing resident) I see a new batch of land getting clear cut. So maybe that is where the slogan came from! Come and see trees getting cut down!
The new batch of land is on the corner of Jarvis and Barker Cypress bordering Cypress Creek. That batch of trees used to make the entrance into the neighborhood very grand. Huge oak trees overhanging the road right before you got to the big “Coles Crossing” sign across the pond at Jarvis. That entrance is one of the reasons my wife and I decided on this neighborhood in 1999. We figured it would be a little less grand once they made Barker Cypress a divided 4 lane road, but we never imagined they would cut down ALL of the trees. But no longer. Now it is just another empty patch of land that is destined to be a strip mall, pharmacy, or bank.
I do give the community credit for actually planting quite a few trees of late. That will make the community look nice in 10 or 15 years. However, the irony with that especially in places like along Coles Crossing North that goes between Coles Crossing drive and Telge is that they cut down all of the trees when they put in the street. If they kept those and the underbrush around them, we would not have had to spend home owner’s dues to plant more trees! I definitely think that Longwood did it right in terms of keeping all the trees and underbrush in the greenbelts between the homes and main community streets.
Even with the tree issue, I really do love the neighborhood. Even though a lot of trees have been destroyed, it is still one of the few neighborhoods off of Hwy 290 that actually has trees which is nice. The people are very nice, the community is active, and I love the weight room and tennis courts. I do wish we had another pool or at least a bigger one, but that is a story for another day.
Coles Crossing — Come and see….something or another.
Comments
on 30 Jul 2006 at 5:04 pm 1. Gray Cooksey said …
Jim, I too was very disheartened to see them cutting down those magnificent trees at the entrance of Coles Crossing on Barker’s Cypress. I hate to see this happening across NW Houston. To me it simply understates the need for higher standards of development. I’d love to see some sort of grass roots movement to help put a stop to this sort of unimaginative development. Put pressure on these developers to retain some of the natural aesthetic that has attracted so many people to live out here.
- Gray
Longwood
on 30 Jul 2006 at 7:14 pm 2. Jim said …
Gray, You would think a community like Coles would have deed restrictions against that sort of thing.
The Woodlands is one of the most successful master planned communities in the world and a very big reason for that is their restrictions against removing trees. You can drive down main roads in The Woodlands with strip centers and office buildings on either side of you, and you almost forget they are their. They are always at least halfway hidden behind the underbrush and trees. You would have thought Coles would have taken notes.
I do feel that the developers of Longwood did an overall good job with that community. I like the fact they kept so much of the native foliage between Longwood Trace and the houses. Coles is hit or miss in that regard also.
Thanks for the comment!
- Jim
on 01 Aug 2006 at 4:56 pm 3. Gray Cooksey said …
Jim, has there been any news as to what’s slated to go in at that parcel? It appears they’ve now cleared a fairly large swath of land. I just hope its not going to be an apartment complex.
on 09 Aug 2006 at 10:49 am 4. Jim said …
Gray, sorry for the delayed response.
I have not heard about what is going there. My guess is a shopping complex of some kind, but not positive.
Speaking of shopping complexes, they have been talking about starting that HEB complex between Jarvis and 290 on Barker Cypress for years. I wonder when that is actually going to happen…
on 09 Aug 2006 at 6:01 pm 5. Gray Cooksey said …
It seems rather unnecessary for them to have clearcut those majestic trees outside CC. I’d rather have them than another shopping center. Besides, we’ve got so many new ones popping up along 290. Do we really need another Nail salon, Donut, and Dry Cleaner strip center?
I’ve seen the signs for the new HEB that will be built on Barker Cypress and 290. (That should be the deathknell for Randall’s.) I imagine it will be one of the new Big HEB’s like they built near Seven Lakes and Cinco Ranch. These have more Central Market specialty items and have Central Market ‘Cafe on the Run’ which are especially cool. The HEB in Klein is currently constructing a ‘Cafe on the Run’ in their store as well.
There will also be a new HEB at Vintage Park, which is a $1 Billion lifestyle/town center project that is being developed on the HP parcel on the other side of 249 (at Louetta). This HEB is going to be similar to the Woodlands Market store, it will be named HEB Vintage Market.
on 09 Aug 2006 at 6:06 pm 6. Gray Cooksey said …
Tree Project for Telge?
What would it take to get some people from Longwood and people from Coles Crossing to get together to plant some nice trees on the new esplanade running along Telge?
I’ve heard that trees can be procured from various local foundations. I think it would add a nice aesthetic to Telge as it intersects Huffmeister.
Anyone interested?