Council hears presentation on planned development

• A rendering of the development was shown during the presentation Tuesday. COURTESY PHOTO

It was standing room only in the council chambers as a presentation on a planned mixed-use development was given during Mount Pleasant City Council’s meeting Tuesday night.

Developer Jon Anderson spoke to the council about Anderson Towne Crossing; the development, which would be located near Tankersley Lake on I-30 and Highway 271, would include single-family and multi-family housing, shopping, restaurants and more.

“We’ve been working off and on for four years on this project,” said city manager Ed Thatcher.

Anderson said he started doing full-time land development in 2013.

“Shortly after that, being from Mount Pleasant, you want to do something where you’re from, you want to make an impact,” Anderson told the council.

He said that 2013 was when they began looking for land.

“In 2015 we put the track of land that is now Atwoods - it stretches from Atwoods back over to La Quinta and back towards the lake,” Anderson said.

Anderson said they closed on that land in 2016.

“I think Mount Pleasant needs a place for people to hang out,” Anderson said.

Public Improvement District bonds, or PID bonds are planned to be utilized as a financing mechanism for the development.

“PID bonds are issued only for public improvements, which would be horizontal infrastructure, which would be considered roads or utilities,” Anderson said.

According to Anderson, PID assessments only apply to the land or development, having no cost to Mount Pleasant or Titus County citizens.

“The only people that have any cost involved in paying back a PID bond is the property owner,” Anderson told the council.

“In simple terms, if you do not live in this development, you will not have any additional costs to you for the roads and utilities in this development. It’s the same way that cities finance infrastructure. They get bonds to pay for improvements, and those bonds are paid back through the taxes paid by the people that live in that city,” Anderson Towne Crossing’s Facebook post stated.

“It has been quite a lengthy process to get us to this night right here,” Councilmember Sherri Spruill said. “We’ve had meetings, and we’ve had presentations, and we’ve had all sorts of things over those times to help the council and the city staff understand the complexities of this opportunity.”

Spruill said she agreed with a lot of the things Anderson said overall, but had some concerns.

“There’s a desire, and probably a need to see that portion of our town used,” she said. “We have a wonderful location out there that is underutilized.”

Spruill said that the majority of contracts they enter have an estimated time of completion.

“From what I can understand about this magnitude of developments it’s hard to estimate when it will be completed at build-out,” she said. “I believe a project like this, once it’s gone into, will take years.”

Spruill, who said she just celebrated her 62nd birthday, said she didn’t think this project would be completely built out in her lifetime.

“The staff that’s here now, the council that’s here now, this project will be passed on to the next administration, to the next council, to govern and to administer,” she said.

The Texas Crown Regional Center, which has been designated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as a qualifying economic entity to participate in the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program since 2016, has advertised the development as an EB-5 project, which some citizens have expressed their concern for.

“We can close our eyes and go ‘I don’t wanna do some things because I don’t like who you’re financing it with.’ That’s none of our business,” councilmember Galen Adams said.

Citizen Steve Bolster spoke to the council and voiced his concerns over national security. Bolster said that the latter part of his career was spent in Washington D.C. dealing with national security issues post-9/11.

According to USCIS, Congress created the EB-5 program in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. Then, in 1992, Congress created the Immigrant Investor Program, which sets EB-5 visas aside for those who participate in investing in commercial enterprises.

Anderson told the Tribune that their goal is to meet and exceed the desires that have been set out by the community and leadership.

“Since I was a kid, the desires of the community have been more restaurants, more shopping, and more things to do. The city leadership has echoed these sentiments in their comprehensive growth plan. They have added that they would like to see growth on I-30, lake developments, and areas to include restaurants, shopping, and housing. We are happy to say that this development fulfills the desires of those within our community,” Anderson told the Tribune. “The current item being considered by the city council is the Development Agreement, which will allow the use of bonds to construct roadways and utilities in the development. This will be at no cost to the city and no financial obligation from the city. We are only asking for their blessing in helping to achieve the goal that they themselves have set for us.”