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$1.5M, athletic complex in agreement for city
Another Municipal Utility District is coming to Elgin’s Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction, approved 6-2 by the council after an hourlong discussion surrounding its concept plan, amenities and impact on the city’s water and wastewater services.
The resolution approving a consent and development agreement with Qualico Developments Inc. and the Triada MUD follows a familiar plan established by the several other districts coming outside of city limits. The project will be bringing with it a financial and public service boost for Elgin, according to City Manager Thomas Mattis.
“We’re really excited about this project and we’re confident it will be a high quality project, but also has some great attributes for the city,” Mattis said in the May 7 City Council meeting.
The long and slender development will share a property line with the rear end of Elgin High School’s campus, continuing the centralized construction around County Line Road and Farm to Market 1100.
Consistent with how the city has handled extrateritorial jurisdiction MUDs in the past, it will not be annexed and no property taxes will be paid to the city, but the agreement will include an agreement for Elgin to collect sales tax revenue along with a master development fee.
The city will also provide wholesale water and wastewater services with water impact fees. The MUD developers will provide for costs associated with line improvements and connection.
“Basically, with wastewater services, the developer has to pay for everything, every part of the cost to provide those services in that area, things that we are compelled to make available,” Mattis added. “We can make them pay for it, but we can’t flat out deny services.”
Nearly $1.5 million will be coming out of proceeds from the issuance of bonds in support of the project, coming to the city as unencumbered cash.
Including all of the other ETJ MUDS with similar agreements, this addition puts the number just above $10 million that the city has received from master development fees.
“The key for that, as always for the city, is this is completely unencumbered cash. So much of the money that we get – tax dollars, utility bills, things like that – there’s some restrictions on how the city can spend those funds,” Mattis said. “What’s crucial about this money is the council literally can spend it however we want. It’s these master development fees and other development revenue that’s being generated that is exactly why we’re able to make more of a financial investment in the other parts of town that we have in the last couple of years. This is an important thing for us to keep going.”
Additionally, project plans include a 15-acre public park to be built at the expense of the developer, that will later be conveyed over to the city and become a city-owned park.
The developer is open to the city coming up with its own plan for the park, and preliminary mapping includes little league, baseball, soccer and mix-use fields.
“It’s a very unique project. This is a very different kind of step that we’ve taken in this project and working with the developer, we’re really excited about that,” Mattis continued.
The 272-acre development is slated to hold 875 single-family homes, four linear miles of trails and 55 acres of open space, with comprehensive deed restrictions and amenities similar to those found in existing master-planned residential communities.
The total authorized single and multi-family homes in current ETJ MUD projects sits at 8,328, including Triada.
Other beneficial agreements with the developer include the donation of two acres of land for public safety use, transportation improvements coming to Farm to Market 1100 and Carlson Lane with a major arterial roadway and $175,000 in support of Elgin Independent School District, $200 per housing unit.
With this approved agreement, the developer is ready to move forward, according to Mattis.
“This is a big add for the city. We continue to raise that competitive bar for future developers. The quality of homes will be really good,” added the city manager.
