In what accurately could be described as an objective look at the present as well as an optimistic peak into the future of Kyle, City Manager Scott Sellers painted a picture today of a steadily growing regional community whose population growth will fuel many of the amenities residents are longing for, most particularly dining-in restaurants instead of just drive throughs.
Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the Kyle Chamber of Commerce, Sellers’s message to assembled business leaders essentially was "more customers are coming your way."
Sellers also provided a brief overview of the city’s budget he is proposing for FY 2016-17 and clearly laid out the rationale for seeking a storm water utility and a fee to pay for that utility.
Sellers said his proposed budget reflected the excitement he felt about what was happening in Kyle "and how privileged we are to be a member of this community. The prospects looking ahead continue to be very bright for our city. Together we continue to move Kyle forward in really unprecedented ways.
"It’s really an exciting time to be working on all these projects," Sellers told the luncheon audience. "And we continue to look forward to you growing with us."
Earlier, after saying statistics estimate 3.5 persons per residence in Kyle and that the city has approximately 14,000 such residences today, "all signs point to stable, steady population influx," that will lead to growth in population of 77,000 within the next 15 years.
"All things considered," he went on, "right now, on paper, there are about 42,000, give or take developable residential units in the total area." Using Sellers’s formula of 3.5 persons per unit, that comes to a population growth of 147,000 during what he said will be "the next 30 to 40 years."
In outlining his budget, Sellers stressed that half of it is dedicated to capital improvement projects: "road projects, water, sewer, drainage. So half of the budget will be visible, tangible ways the city is progressing."
Sellers said his budget calls for a one-cent reduction in the property tax. "Now the city council may want to increase that three or four cents," he said, half jokingly. "That’s their prerogative," But he also said he didn’t think any council member — five of whom attended the luncheon — would seriously consider such a move.
"Over the last year and a half, if you’ve lived anywhere in Central Texas — especially Kyle, or San Marcos or Wimberley — you have experienced the devastating effects of some sort of rain event," Sellers said, launching into his reasoning behind the creation of a storm water utility. "Some were effected in severe ways with hundreds of homes being damaged or destroyed.
"We have many miles of storm drainage infrastructure through the city of Kyle," he continued. "Right now, the onus of the maintenance of that storm drainage is on the individual underlying property owners." He said it is the responsibility of the owner of any property that backs up to a storm drainage culvert to maintain that culvert. That, he argued, is a somewhat myopic approach to storm water management so, instead, he wants Kyle to follow the lead of most of other cities in creating "a storm drainage and flood mitigation utility" with a fee "smaller than that in our neighboring communities that will be used for cleaning out these drains.
"In return, (the city) takes over this responsibility so it’s no longer the responsibility of the underlying property owners."
He said the utility will also assume control of the drainage basins currently maintained by Homeowners Associations.
"This is what we believe is required to mitigate the risks of flooding to our homeowners," Sellers told the luncheon audience.
Sellers referenced the recent annexations undertaken by the city that increased its footprint by 50 percent, from 20 to 30 square miles, but even with these additions "the population density of the city of Kyle is not large enough yet to justify" the type of restaurants and other retail establishments found in Austin and San Marcos. He said the city has sought to determine "what that magic number looks like to get you to consider us."
"The number they tell us is a city population of 50,000," Sellers said (Kyle’s most recent population count was 31,760.) "When you get to 50,000 your city takes on the next tier of development like more sit-down restaurants.
"For the destination retailer or for the destination dining that needs a destination retailer, it’s around 250,000 population" (for the region being served) Sellers said. "We are not there. As a region, we are not there, but we are getting very close" when you combine the populations of Kyle with Buda and San Marcos.
Because of that, Sellers said, "We are asking our housing developers to put in the densities, to put in the standards and the long-term maintenance requirements for having a top-tier home development in the city of Kyle,"
He said the reason for the various MUDs (Municipal Utility Districts) and PIDs (Public Improvement Districts) attached to these developments is to guarantee "the development is the highest and best use."
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