A new zoning district that could serve as a “destination development” was presented to Bellaire City Council by the Planning and Zoning Committee at an April 20 meeting.

The details: If approved by City Council, the Bellaire Makers District would serve several purposes, city consultant Gary Mitchell said. 

The district would create a unique area on the edge of Bellaire's city limits, encourage reinvestment in the city and create a green area that is less auto-oriented, according to the presentation. 

Diving deeper: The creation of the new district would mean the removal of the Urban Village District and the addition of several new regulations. However, Director of Development Services Travis Tanner said the new regulations would be “less intense than what is allowed under the current code.”

One more thing: The amendments are anticipated to be considered by City Council on May 18, following the public hearing, according to the agenda statement report.

Cordovan Art School will host a grand opening celebration for its new Bellaire location May 16 with free art classes.

What they offer: Founded by John Howell in 2009, Cordovan is an art school for children, teens and adults that offers classes in mediums such as painting, drawing, sketching, pastels and watercolors.

The grand opening: During the opening celebration event in Bellaire, the art school will host free art classes and offer raffles for free summer camps.

“We are going to run free classes all day long,” Wilcox said. “It’ll be a step-by-step art project, just for the day, just for an hour, at the grand opening.”

Guests can also sign up for discounted classes or camps during the event.

• 4007 Bellaire Blvd., Houston

The final phase of ticket sales for the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament will drop April 22 at 10 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. The drop coincides with the 50-day countdown to the tournament.

What to expect: Tickets across all 104 matches, including the seven held in Houston this summer, will be made available for public purchase on the FIFA website, according to an April 21 news release.

Fans can choose tickets from across categories 1 to 3 and the front-row seat categories, depending on the match. Along with this ticket set, additional tickets will continue to be released to the public on an ongoing basis up until the final match July 19 in New Jersey.

Something to note: Ticket demand for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been the highest in history. Over 5 million tickets have already been sold, leaving roughly 2 million seats left across the 16 World Cup stadiums.

Thousands of students who live in the Greater Houston area public school boundaries are attending another district or a charter school during the 2025-26 school year, with Houston, Alief and Fort Bend ISDs seeing the highest numbers, according to Texas Education Agency data released March 5.

The overview: Community Impact reviewed TEA data from the 2025-26 school year to determine the number of students departing public school districts and where they were transferring. 

By the numbers: The data from 28 Greater Houston school districts shows the ones with the highest transfer numbers were:

• Houston ISD with 60,430 net transfers out

• Alief ISD with 10,629 net transfers out

• Fort Bend ISD with 9,197 net transfers out

• Cypress-Fairbanks ISD with 7,075 net transfers out

• Aldine ISD with 6,620 net transfers out

Also of note: The data also shows some school districts saw a net increase in enrollment from transfers in 2025-26, including Deer Park, Friendswood, Galena Park and Montgomery ISDs.

The March Housing Market Update from the Houston Association of Realtors, released April 8, shows signs of stability and growth in the Houston housing market. Factors behind this stability include slowly falling house prices and sales gains in single-family homes and townhomes/condominiums.

The conditions: According to HAR, single-family home sales rose by 3.7% with 7,644 homes sold in March compared to the 7,369 sold last March. Home prices fell slightly as well by 1.5%, leveling to a median price of $333,000. Houses saw a slight increase in days on the market, rising to 67 days compared to 62 days last year. Total property sales across the Houston area grew by 3.6%, with 9,001 properties sold, and the number of active property listings rose by 8.8%, equaling 55,611.

What the experts say: HAR Chief Economist Ted C. Jones said the current state of the global economy has led to some instability in interest rates; however, the market has stabilized in comparison to last year.