Developers planning master-planned community in Cypress

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A master-planned community similar to The Woodlands is exploding in northwest Harris County and developers say they have an even grander plan.

More businesses are opening in Bridgeland near Highway 290 and Fry Road. Developers out there will tell you their long-term aim is to look and feel a lot like The Woodlands.

If you haven't been to Cypress lately, it probably looks a lot different from when you were last here -- businesses opening, new home building, dirt turning, and this is just the beginning.

"We're definitely growing out here, and we need it," Cy Fair Chamber of Commerce President Leslie Martone said.

Martone estimates right now, the home-to-business ratio in far northwest Harris County is 75 percent to 25 percent.

But that's changing.

"We're getting there," said Peter Houghton, vice president of master planned communities for the Howard Hughes Corporation.

And Bridgeland is part of that change.

"As of this year, we will probably sell 400 homes, which will make us No. 3 in Houston and No. 8 in the United States," Houghton said.

Once farmland for rice and cattle, the Howard Hughes Corporation is transforming 11,400 acres off of Fry Road near State Highway 290 into a master planned community. There will be new homes, schools and eventually a town center with shopping, restaurants and entertainment along serene waterways.

"Pearland's got a town center, Sugar Land, The Woodlands," Houghton said. "Ours will look very similar to that," Houghton said.

The future Grand Parkway will bisect Bridgeland's town center, which means more business and a more mature Cypress.

"It's just another opportunity for them and a reason to move out to Cy-Fair, is if they can have a place to live, work and play all together," Martone said.

The long-term timeline is 30 or 40 years, but developers hope to start Phase 1 of town center in 2014 or 2015.

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Cypress man accused of posting sex photos online

  CYPRESS, TX (KTRK) -- A Cypress man is facing charges after allegedly posting photos and videos online of him and his ex-girlfriend engaging in sex acts.

Eduardo Monsivias, 47, is charged with improper photography and visual recording. Investigators say the sexual images were posted from October 24, 2011, through January 22, of this year. They're reportedly from inside his home.

According to court documents, the victim -- who says she ended the relationship nearly two years prior -- discovered the images while doing a web search on her name. She says she was unaware the the recordings were being made at the time.

Investigators were able to obtain a search warrant and confiscated memory cards and computers from Monsivias' home, which reportedly contained several still photos and videos of Monsivias and the victim engaged in sex acts.

Monsivias has not yet been arrested. His bail has been set at $2,000.

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Cypress mom accused of being drunk, endangering children in hot car

Constance Lois Long, 28, is charged with endangering a child.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Cypress mother is accused of being passed out drunk with her young children in a hot car.

Court documents show on September 19 Constance Lois Long was found unconscious and seated in the driver's seat of her vehicle parked on private property with the motor running. Her two children, ages 4 years and 18 months old, were in their car seats in the back seat.

A witness was alerted when the 4-year-old honked the horn. Investigators say the child tried to wake Long, but couldn't.

According to court records, the witness observed an open bottle of vodka to be two-thirds empty on the front passenger floor board, as well as a water bottle in the center console with clear liquid one-third full that smelled of alcohol.

The alcohol was within reach of the older child and the car's air conditioner was not running, making the interior very hot, court documents state.

Police say Long was unresponsive and smelled of alcohol that resembled the odor in the vodka bottle. They say she refused a field sobriety test or to provide blood or breath specimen.

She was arrested the same day.

Long, 28, is charged with endangering a child. Bond was set at $2,000.

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