Leander, landowners discuss partnership

Leander, landowners discuss partnership

Written by Kara Vaught Monday, 07 May 2007

Development would follow extension of city water service

Directions: Select plants. Apply water. Watch growth.

Drastically simplified, this is the formula Leander Mayor John Cowman and outgoing council member Iris Davis plan to use in respect to the Ronald W. Reagan Boulevard corridor.

But Cowman and Davis aren’t planting a garden. They want to create a partnership between landowners and the city of Leander to extend water and wastewater services to business developments on Reagan. The utilities would be part of a package deal that includes a plan for the urban surge that will inevitably stretch into the area.

“[Reagan] is a development waiting to happen,” Cowman said. “I’m trying to get these folks to act as one body, so basically we can master plan the whole area and make it harmonious.”

Water and savings

The city annexed land on both sides of Reagan north of FM 1431 and south of Hwy. 29 less than a year ago. Cowman began to gather information about the area eight months ago, and in March he invited 63 Reagan landowners and interested parties to a luncheon to discuss his vision for the corridor.

“I informed them that I would like to work on two things with them,” Cowman said. “One, get them to work as a group and, two, create a development agreement that would lock them in to the current capital recovery fee rate.”

Cities charge a capital water and wastewater recovery fee, the amount of which is determined by an engineer. Leander’s rate is low compared to other cities, Cowman said, so he suspects they’ll soon rise. Locking in the landowners rates now would save them roughly $12 million combined.

The projected cost of extending water services to the corridor is also $12 million, Davis said.

“Instead of not having [city water services] at all and no one developing this place for 10 years or whatever, it’s to everyone’s best interest to chip in and get it done,” she said. “The big deal is the $12 million, and that sounds like a lot, but when you think of the overall income to the city and the savings to the landowners, it’s a win-win situation.”

Analyzing the impact

Before any deal is struck, an economic analysis and marketing survey must be done for the entire corridor as a unit, Cowman said. The results would give the landowners and the city a better idea of the developments that would best suit the land and how such activity would affect the economy.

For the recently completed TOD, similar research cost $50,000. Davis and Cowman say they will approach the council and request that the city supply the landowners with one-third of that cost.

“That would be in the next budget process,” Davis said. “Council would have to vote for it and show the landowners that we are serious. My job would be to find a place in the budget where we could redirect money in order not to add to the budget.”

Country life

At the March information-gathering meeting, some landowners expressed to Cowman and Davis their concerns that the city was moving into an area where people purposefully went to escape it.

Davis said she recognizes that position fully, because her home is also near Reagan, but she also knows that the area will be developed at some point.

“We understand that progress happens, and we would rather be in front of the ball than behind it, so to speak.”

Davis also said that the process of planning and executing development will take years, not months.

“This way we can put all the planning in place so everyone’s on board and going the same direction, and whoever eventually develops it would already know that plan.”

Although this potential plan would not attempt to provide water services to residential customers in the area, once the lines are laid and working, homeowners would be welcome to connect, Davis said.

Everyone’s two cents

Connie Katusak and her husband, Robert, own property on CR 179, which is perpendicular to Ronald Reagan. She said Leander citizens are realizing that urbanization is coming their way ready or not, and that preparation is essential.

“I’m very positive about the planning,” she said. “I’d rather see planning than mish mosh from not planning.”

A meeting about the Reagan corridor was scheduled for Thursday. Davis asks everyone to contact her or another council member to voice their opinions.

“I encourage everyone to take a drive up that road and envision the kinds of things they would like to see there,” Davis said. “Then let us know what you think.”

Traditional development vs. comprehensive planning

For years, cities have approached development like a 1,000-piece puzzle. Zoning maps drawn by the city laid out what types of development could go where, and then individual entities planned their own small piece of the puzzle.

Leander plans to divide its puzzle

into larger pieces by planning individual projects as parts of a comprehensive unit. The intention is to produce a cohesive population and maximize resources.

The potential partnership between the Leander City Council and landowners on Ronald Reagan Boulevard would allow the area to be developed as a unit rather than in separate pieces.