Mark Kilkenny is the new Chair of COH Planning Commission

Serving 4th term on commission

Jay Blazek Crossley, Jul 12, 10.

Mark A. Kilkenny, Sr., who is serving his 4th term on the commission, is now the Chair of the City of Houston Planning Commission, according to minutes from the May 27, 2010 meeting of the Planning Commission and Mr. Kilkenny’s bio at the website of Mischer Development, where Mr. Kilkenny serves as Vice President. Medardo E. “Sonny” Garza was also elected Vice Chair of the Planning Commission at that same meeting. Dr. Carol Lewis, Associate Professor and Director of the TSU Center for Transportation Training and Research, served as the previous chair of the commission.

Mr. Kilkenny’s firm, Mischer, develops master planned communities in the Houston region, as well as mixed-use, commercial, and healthcare projects, according to their website. Mr. Kilkenny is Past Chairman of the West Houston Association and a founding member of Houstonians for Responsible Growth.

Mr. Kilkenny has also served as chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership’s flood control committee and served as Chairman of the City of Houston Planning Commission’s Mixed-Use, Transit-Oriented Subcommittee, which produced the draft ordinance that became the City’s first Urban Corridors Ordinance in 2009 intended to encourage and allow Transit-Oriented Development around Houston’s 65 planned light rail stations.

Mr. Garza is account manager for KBXX-FM radio and has served on a variety of community boards and volunteer positions, including the Eastwood Historical Commission and Stages Repertory Theater, according to his City of Houston Planning Commission bio (pdf). Eastwood was one of Houston’s first master-planned subdivisions, according to the Eastwood Civic Association.