Officials ask residents to assist in planning for future of city
Changes in economic, housing and retail development are rippling through the city of Colleyville, and the city is now looking to its citizens for their input on the next 20 years.
City officials are in the middle of putting together a Colleyville comprehensive plan, re-worded and an update from the 2004 Colleyville Master Plan, involving community engagement to outline what residents desire to see in the city.
Director of Community Development Ron Ruthven said the planning process will survey Colleyville residents through town hall meetings, neighborhood meetings and focus groups.
The city will also form a comprehensive plan advisory committee, which includes citizens, city board members and council members, including Mayor David Kelly, Ruthven said.
"We would use [the input] to find out the goals and priorities for the next 20 years," Ruthven said. "It's a fun process."
The comprehensive plan looks at all facets of the city including, but not limited to, land use, transportation, housing development and the city's overall appearance.
"[The plan includes] anything basically that you can touch, feel and see in the city," Ruthven said.
The first public meeting will be a workshop April 22 at 6 p.m. at the Colleyville Center, 100 Main St., that will include a breakdown of the plan and group sessions focused on the vision for the city and key topics. All citizens are welcome and encouraged to participate in the event, Ruthven said.
A comprehensive plan website, www.plancolleyvilletx.wordpress.com., went live at the end of February and highlights plan details and schedules and allows the public to post photos of their likes or dislikes within the city.
"We hope that [residents] will take advantage of [the site]," Kelly said. "This is a plan for all the residents in Colleyville–we don't want just one perspective."
With a 1.5 percent growth rate each year, Colleyville is not a rapidly growing city but rather an "aging in place" town, Ruthven said. This occurs when residents wish to move but only to a different location within the same city in order to downsize or find a place that is more compatible with their specific needs, he said.
"They want to have housing options to be able to move into that fit their current needs," he said. "But yet they still live in their community because they love their community."
From Ruthven's observations, Colleyville is a town that makes people want to stay.
"I hear all the time that people move to Colleyville because of the quality of life," Ruthven said.
Land development
The purpose of the comprehensive plan is to guide the future growth of the city with an ultimate goal of promoting long-term sustainability, Ruthven said. But in terms of residential development, there is not much room for growth. In early February, Terra Manna LLC announced the purchase of 110 acres in Colleyville to build approximately 265 single-family homes.
The new development is a gated, luxury community called Creekside and is located at Glade Road and Heritage Avenue. The development plan spans three phases that will expand to Cheek-Sparger Road, and Phase 1 is currently in development, said Bret Pedigo, owner at Manna Land LLC.
"As the city gets closer to build-out, you don't have the big properties that are either undeveloped or agricultural that you can subdivide," Ruthven said. "Creekside is the last big undeveloped piece of property in the city."
The demand for homes has grown higher than what Colleyville has inventory for, Realtor Brenda Magness said.
"It's a fantastic market, there's just not enough listings."
Ruthven said many houses built more than 20 years ago have been torn down and rebuilt into bigger homes while others are simply revamped.
"[Buyers] don't mind an older home, as long as it's updated," Magness said.
Planning after build-out
While there is no specific line that defines Colleyville's build-out, Ruthven approximated the city would reach that point with 1,000 more lots, which is projected to occur in 2025.
"I think once we get to build-out, we'll always see [redevelopment] in Colleyville. It's a testament to the attractiveness of the city and people wanting to live here."
But even after Colleyville reaches build-out, Ruthven said planning never stops. Ruthven expects the comprehensive plan process to be finished by year's end, or spring 2015 at the latest.
"The key driver on a plan like this is it's only as good as the amount of input we get from the citizens," Ruthven said. "We want as much citizen feedback as we can get."
