FIGURE 2.2: NEW COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS PER YEAR
When the last comprehensive plan was adopted by City Council in 2015, the City had a population of 101,725. From 2015-2021, Pearland added an estimated 28,000 people according to ESRI Business Analyst Online (BAO) data. For context, Pearland city limits contain 48.8 square miles, which indicates that the City added an average of roughly 590 people per square mile. A population change can correspond with a change in demographics and result in a shift in the community’s preferences and needs. It is essential to proactively plan for a community in order to accommodate new and existing residents. Population growth will not
Chapter 2
Community Snapshot Figure 2.1 summarizes some of the key metrics for both the Pearland study area and the Greater Houston area. The figure shows that Pearland is slightly older, with a larger share of households with children than the region as a whole.
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Community Profile
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2019 2020 2021 2022
FIGURE 2.1: COMMUNITY SNAPSHOT
only affect the infrastructure demands such as school capacity and water usage, but very likely shape Pearland's future. The City of Pearland has provided data (see Figure 2.2) that shows the number of building permits for new commercial construction from 2019 to 2022. During this time period, the City issued 134 commercial permits for the construction of new buildings.
A community profile starts with the basic facts—who lives in an area, the history of the area, and what currently exists there. These components help build the community’s collective identity. In this chapter, the past and current demographics will provide the baseline framework of the future community that this comprehensive plan seeks to plan for. Specifically, this chapter explores the existing conditions of Pearland and the surrounding area.
PEARLAND STUDY AREA
GREATER HOUSTON
Historic Development Patterns The historic development pattern of Pearland has been focused on traditional single-family residential, based on Euclidean zoning and development policies encouraging single-family subdivisions. Euclidean zoning organizes a city into specific districts where certain land uses are allowed or prohibited. In Texas, Chapter 211 of the Texas Local Government Code (TX LGC) provides municipal zoning authority that was based on the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act. As is common throughout the United States, housing options such as duplexes, townhomes, bungalows, garden homes, and courtyard apartments have not been as widely constructed as single-family subdivisions. Figure 2.12 shows the year that each area was annexed into Pearland’s city boundaries; this land was constructed with new, detached single-family developments.
163,522 2021 Estimated Population +3.0% Annual Growth Rate since 2010
7.24M 2021 Estimated Population +1.9% Annual Growth Rate since 2010
35.3 Median Age 74.0% % Owner Households 48.0% Households with Children
34.9 Median Age 56.9% % Owner Households 40.9% Households with Children
3.00 Avg. Household Size 80.4 Diversity Index 1.6% % Households with no access to vehicle
2.85 Avg. Household Size 81.2 Diversity Index 5.2% % Households with no access to vehicle
These concepts are defined throughout the chapter.
PEARLAND COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 2040
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