Howe council amends Ponderosa Point zoning under Ordinance 850

By GvilleTX Newsroom

The Howe City Council adopted Ordinance No. 850 on July 21, 2026, amending the PD-6 planned development zoning that governs Ponderosa Point, the mixed-use project the city's official news page locates along Ponderosa Road and U.S. Highway 75. Under the ordinance, construction on the property has to conform to the amended list of permitted uses, and the measure took effect once the council adopted it and the city completed the publication the ordinance requires.

The July vote changed rules already on the books rather than granting a first entitlement. Ordinance 850 states that PD-6 was established earlier by Ordinance No. 796, covering roughly 122.025 acres in Grayson County.

According to the ordinance, the council updated the PD-6 concept plan along with the plan governing landscaping, screening, trails and amenities. The measure also deletes subdistrict PD-6-C and prohibits the uses that subdistrict had allowed. The ordinance says that deletion is intended to reach only land within PD-6 that remains undeveloped and unpermitted.

The City of Howe's public notice identified the affected property as about 103.868 acres inside the Ponderosa Point replat. That notice described the item before the council as a request to rezone to Planned Development, carrying amendments to the concept plan, the amenity plan, shared maintenance provisions and property owners association standards.

Cope Equities, named as the developer in the city's news post, describes Ponderosa Point on its own project page as a 125-acre mixed-use development in Howe.

Ordinance 850 addresses two development provisions by name. It allows an approved grocery store to exceed the 250-foot building length restriction that otherwise applies in PD-6, and it states that a commercial subdistrict with no residential or multifamily area does not have to provide a private amenity center.

The Planning and Zoning Commission submitted a final report supporting approval before the council took up the amendment, according to the ordinance. Ordinance 850 records the council's finding that the PD-6 amendment is advantageous and beneficial to the citizens of Howe and in their best interest.

Anna, another city on the U.S. 75 corridor, has used planned-development zoning for mixed-use land. Records from the City of Anna show a district at U.S. 75 and West White Street that permitted retail, service, residential and office uses, with circulation connecting to U.S. 75 and FM 455.

The public record reviewed for this report does not include a council vote count, a project cost, the name of a grocery tenant or a construction start date for Ponderosa Point.