The new Anthem

Updated Wednesday 2-10 to include comments from Mountain City Mayor Tiffany Carnutt and Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy

I ventured over to sit in on Mountain City’s City Council meeting last night because (1) I wanted to view the "official" reaction to the decision by the Kyle City Council to dissolve the Interlocal Agreement between the two cities and (2) the agenda promised an update from Clark Wilson on his Anthem development — a primarily residential development that appears, at least on Anthem’s website, to be at least twice the size of Mountain City — that prompted the proposed ILA.

First things first. The feeling among the City Council members about the ILA’s status was one of "relief" as in "We’re glad we put that behind us" and "This is how this thing should have played out all along." These words or anything similar we never said by anyone out loud. But there was no mistaking the vibes coming from the council members.

A quick history lesson. When Wilson first announced his Anthem development, located in Mountain City’s extra-territorial jurisdiction, the question that quickly arose was where were the folks who would live there someday get their water. Wilson had signed a deal with a Houston outfit, Electro Purification, but its water source quickly evaporated. Kyle leapt to the rescue telling Mountain City, in effect, "We’ll be more than happy to supply the water as well as the wastewater services the development needs. All we ask in return is that your relinquish jurisdiction so we can annex the development." Enough folks in Mountain City found that idea abhorrent enough to delay signing the deal until finally Kyle said "Keep Anthem. We’ll just sell water and wastewater services to the folks there like we would any other customer." This is a gross over-simplification but it addresses the essence of the deal.

An obviously relieved Wilson told the Mountain City council last night that he is scaling back on the number of homes he plans to build from the original 2,100 figure that was being tossed around. He told the council he’s looking at 1,600 residences starting at $300,000 on lots as big "as the market will bear." In other words, he looking more at what I would refer to as "estates" than just "new homes."

He also said he is moving the proposed elementary school from its original planned location immediately northwest of the proposed "Kyle Loop" that will traverse the development to an area in close proximity to the traffic circle near the southwestern Ranch Road 150 entrance to the development.

I have noticed that many communities have begun partnering with school districts to develop joint library and park facilities. All elementary schools require playgrounds and the latest thinking among city planners is there is a cost saving if these playgrounds can also double as a city park. Wilson was working along these lines with the park planned for the school. The same thought process is going into libraries that are also required for public schools. I asked Wilson if he had thought about such a cooperative deal, one that might even involve Mountain City itself as well as the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.

"Great idea and I will propose that concept to the school district," Wilson replied. "The drive from Mountain City to Anthem is a couple of miles on the ground even though it's almost touching as the crow flies. We will have a trail system throughout the Anthem community and could try to connect that trail system to Mountain City if that is desirable to the current residents. My experience is since a connection is ‘two-way’ there could be some folks that would not want that connection. … We want to build a community that works well and is an integral part of the area."

The geography is fascinating. As it stands right now, it appears that Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton could stand on the western border of Mountain City and easily toss a football into Anthem. But to drive there, Mountain City residents will have to go south on 2770 to the intersection of Rebel Drive and then northwest on Ranch Road 150 to the Anthem entrance, a distance of almost four miles.

"First, I love the idea and wasn't aware of this growing concept, but it really makes so much sense," Mountain City Mayor Tiffany Carnutt said.

"We have had some resident opposition to a direct connection with Anthem, both road and trail opposition at various different times," the mayor continued. "As Mr. Wilson continues to develop the layout of the Anthem plan we would like to survey the residents to get their feedback for ideas such as this one and the trail concept.

"I understand that there is also an elementary school site planned for the east side of 2770 directly across from Mountain City (between Kohlers Crossing, 1626 and 2770)," she said. "It may be a new can of worms but, logistically, a library would make more sense in that particular location as far as we are concerned. And who knows, that may be where our Mountain City kids end up attending when rezoning takes place again in this fast growing district.

"With that said, now that we are back to the original development agreement and ready to move forward with a plan I think it will be easier for our residents and council to get our arms around the Anthem plan and how we can work together to be good neighbors and welcome them into our ETJ," Carnutt concluded. "Mr. Wilson has been great to work with and we are sure there will be plenty more meetings and ideas as we continue through this process."

The school district, on the other hand, would not even commit to the idea of an elementary school in Anthem. But the district’s spokesman said the district would be open to some form of a joint library.

"The school district wouldn't be opposed to having some type of extended hours with the library, should the district decide to finalize an elementary campus in Anthem," district spokesperson Tim Savoy said. "Nothing has been concluded at present on the project.

"Also, the construction of an elementary school would ultimately be up to voters to decide in a future bond election," he continued. "We have had libraries open in other schools to serve community needs at various times, particularly concerning access to computer labs, etc.

"There are really two issues to consider," Savoy said. "First, building and outfitting the facility. That would actually be a matter of voters determining whether to approve a bond. The other consideration is the operational budget — where funds would come from for paid staff members and utility usage, etc., if the library would regularly operate extended hours. That would be the more challenging detail to work out.

"I think we would be limited in using general operating money earmarked for school operations to expand to city library services for non-students," he concluded. "However, there are always grant possibilities or inter-local agreements with the city or other entities. It's a good idea that would have some details to work out, but the short answer is that we would not be opposed to the possibilities."

So there you have it.