Sugar Mill Squabble: Up in Arms over Apartments

SUGAR LAND, Texas - Not in my backyard: that’s the bottom line in a bitter battle over a Sugar Land redevelopment.

The old Imperial Sugar Mill gave the town its name. But now that the mill is silent, its next incarnation is giving some residents indigestion.

Residents like Jorge and Becky Rodriguez, who live in a house right across the street from the site. The couple fears current plans for hundreds of apartments among the multi-use development will change the ambiance in “old” Sugar Land.

“You'll lose the old hometown feel, you know, once you see apartments and everything,” says Jorge.

Becky adds, “We were born and raised here and chose to stay here, raise our children here, because it's very nice and homey. If they bring up too much (development) then it's going to be too busy. It's not what we want.”

The 700-acre Imperial Sugar site has been primed for a metamorphosis for the better part of a decade.

Blueprints have changed and so has the developer: the project is now in the hands of Johnson Development.

Homeowners who live nearby brought their signatures – 1400 of them, reportedly – to city hall because they don’t like the direction Johnson is going.

“Their initial proposal was to put in 1600 apartment units,” says Diana Miller. “We are asking that they not be allowed to put in any more than 459.”

Sugar Land city officials agree that the first draft of the plan put too many people in too small of an area.

“Johnson submitted a preliminary proposal,” explains Doug Adolph, spokesman for Sugar Land. “The city had several concerns with the proposal, one of which was density. And we asked Johnson to take another look at the proposal, address those concerns and resubmit it to us.”

Johnson Development hasn’t yet amended its proposal but company officials tell FOX 26 News the plan now includes 925 multi-family units.

Six-hundred of them would be near the new Minor League baseball stadium that broke ground on Tuesday and the remainder would be within the mixed-use portion of the property.

Johnson feels there is a need for luxury apartments in Sugar Land but some homeowners beg to differ.

“We don't have the demand for it,” insists Miller, who is running for city council - in part on the apartment issue. “But developers, you know, home sales are slow. The apartment business is good so that's where they want to start developing.”