Friendswood City Council will discuss results of a survey gauging resident interest in calling a bond election to fund major infrastructure projects at its July 6 meeting.

The details: In June, the city sent a survey to residents asking whether they would support a bond that would raise their taxes to fund infrastructure projects, according to a city presentation.

What else: At the upcoming meeting, City Council will discuss the survey results, which show that a slight majority, nearly 55%, of respondents would support paying higher taxes to fund the projects they care most about.
 

Manvel City Council is scheduled to review a proposed 100-acre residential development north of Hwy. 6 and east of Masters Road at its July 6 meeting.

What residents need to know: The proposal outlines an 100-acre residential subdivision with about 260 homes on lots ranging from 50 to 70 feet wide, according to presentation documents. At the June 18 meeting, Mayor Dan Davis said he would be hesitant to support rezoning the property for lots smaller than 1 acre, as previously reported by Community Impact. 

What’s next: Manvel City Council is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. July 6 at Manvel City Hall, located at 20031 Hwy. 6, Manvel.

Need to catch up on Community Impact’s coverage from last week? Check out five trending stories from the South Houston area from June 29-July 3.

1. New ice cream shop opens in Pearland Town Center

2. Fort Bend Care Center to add new education and community center

3. METRO announces new rail station named after Joe Ramirez

4. Brooklyn Pizzeria opens Fulshear area location

5. New ice cream, candy shop opens in Texas City

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas operates the state power grid, overseeing the flow of electricity to over 27 million customers. Yet ERCOT does not directly participate in Texas’ electric market or own any of the facilities that deliver power across the state.

The big picture: Power generation plants, transmission facilities and distribution lines are owned by outside companies, meaning that local power outages are typically isolated and handled by individual companies, rather than ERCOT.

How it works: In 1999, Texas legislators passed a law deregulating the state’s retail electric market. The law was designed to “introduce competition in Texas’ electric market by allowing consumers to choose their retail electric provider,” according to ERCOT.

Previously, most Texas utility companies owned all aspects of the electric supply chain, including generation, transmission and the delivery of power to customers.

Today, approximately 85% of electric customers in Texas can choose their retail electric provider, including those across the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth regions. Customers in Austin and San Antonio get their electricity from municipally owned utilities.