The city of Shenandoah swore in a new city administrator at the April 8 City Council meeting after approving his contract, officially welcoming Sam H. Masiel Jr. to the role.

The background: Masiel replaces Kathie Reyer, who resigned in October after 18 years with the city, serving as city administrator for eight years.

According to information from the city, Masiel previously served as assistant city manager in Huntsville, and he began his municipal career in 2007 in Conroe as utility billing manager.

Quote of note: "Shenandoah has a lot of great things going on with development. It's got that appeal of a hometown feel ... but you also have the amenities of restaurants, shopping and hotels, so it operates like it's a big city but it's only 2.2 miles," Masiel said. "I look forward to working in the community."

Schilleci’s New Orleans Kitchen officials confirmed the eatery is now offering services at its new location on Research Forest Drive.

Per previous Community Impact reporting, the new location is in a 2,904-square-foot space, where it will offer craft cocktails as well as beer and wine. The menu will stay the same, but Schilleci’s plans to offer a specific lunch and happy hour menu featuring drink specials and small bites, according to previous reporting. In addition, the new location will have a private dining room and seat 25 people. 

The backstory: The family-owned restaurant was opened by Zachary and Hannah Schilleci in December 2010, Community Impact previously reported. 
 

• Opened April 4
• 2501 Research Forest Drive, Ste. B, The Woodlands

Montgomery County Commissioners Court voted April 9 to leave the county’s 40-foot minimum suburban lot width in place after hearing pushback from builders, real estate agents and residents during a public hearing on proposed development regulation changes. 

The court removed the proposed 50-foot minimum lot width requirement and approved the rest of the update, which county engineering staff had described as a set of clerical corrections and clarifications.

What happened? County documents show staff had proposed changing the minimum average lot width for suburban lots from 40 feet to 50 feet in the county development regulations. Other proposed changes included updates to traffic study requirements, as-built drawing language and clerical changes like the acknowledgment pages and the Commissioners Court signature block.

Speakers who addressed the court largely argued the 50-foot change would raise housing costs and further squeeze first-time buyers already facing higher taxes, utility costs and insurance expenses.