Apr 04 2008
Barbarians at the gate
I’ve heard a number of people lately talking about the new development on the horizon for our fine city. I’m talking about people who want Anna to remain largely how it’s been for the past 100 years.
I think this sentiment is something we can all relate to on some level — those who have been here for generations are hesitant to see the town they’ve grown up in succumb to the ever expanding urban sprawl. Many of those who have moved here in recent years did so because they like the small-town character Anna represents.
Unfortunately, I’ve got some bad news for those who prefer an Anna with more cornfields than developed land: The growth is coming.
That’s a cold, hard fact. There’s nothing we can do to change it. Anna and the surrounding area are going to experience continued explosive expansion.
The most conservative estimates I’ve heard project the population of Northern Collin County growing by millions in the next 10-15 years. It follows that Anna will have to adapt to accommodate that growth.
The only thing we’ve got any real control over right now is how we accommodate the forthcoming population boom.
Anna is perfectly situated to become the crown jewel of this area. We’ve got a unique congruence of major regional and interstate roadways, tens of thousands of acres of land available for development including, perhaps most importantly, prime acreage along the railway.
We have the potential to cater to many different types of development including not only retail and residential, but light industry, office space, and high tech, to name a few. These types of businesses mean high-paying jobs and a strong, diverse tax base that will help ensure that the services the city provides to its citizens are well-funded.
On the other hand, if we try to fight the growth by opposing these developments, we’ll still get the people, but we’ll get the people living in low-quality housing and apartment complexes. We’ll become the bedroom community for the towns in the area who are clamoring for quality developments that could and should be ours.
These other towns see the writing on the wall and are falling all over themselves trying to figure out how to compete against Anna, which holds all the cards in this regard. All the while, some people in town seem to be trying their hardest to figure out how to throw these advantages away.
With the proper planning, community involvement, and leadership, Anna can make the best of the inevitable boom, achieving sensible, managed growth while maintaining the small-town feel that we all enjoy. We can maximize the city’s phenomenal potential to make the very best Anna for all of us.
Well said Drax.
I like Anna as a small town. I want my kids to grow up in a small town. But I too see the writing on the wall. Anna will not stay small. We can control the development and leave our children with a city that was well planned out and a place to be proud of or we can fight it and Anna will be a place our children try to leave.
I drive 70 miles per day to get to work. I do not make a mountain of money, but I cannot make my current salary in Anna. I would love to see jobs that would allow all of us the luxury of working where we live. The luxury to be able to run to the school and have lunch with our kids. The luxury to NOT spend 1/3 of our income on gas.
Change is coming. Be a part of the solution.
I could not agree more. We are quickly moving in the “low rent” direction and I had hoped for much better for Anna. It does have great potential and a lot of short sited people who continuously discourage bigger and better things.
So….? When are the developers of this and its related sites going to finaly run for office? You get my vote.
Jamie
Being fairly new to the Anna area, I have to say that I agree with this to the full extent. I will never claim to be the brightest of people and be vocally and spelling profiecent. But what I can say is that what drove me to Anna was the sheer small town white picket fence atmosphere. But to make a long story short. I came from a small town called Pickerington Ohio. As I grew up it was extremely small. Five stop lights, two schools, and my neighborhood did not have another one around it for 3 miles. I am 32 now and well, that small town is not so small anymore. In fact it was not small anymore by the time I left it at 19. But I welcomed the change because of the way they developed into it. The town expanded, the feeling did not.
Anna has the prime ability at the moment to provide the same kind of atmosphere with it’s sheer amount of land. There is a big difference between turning a small town into a much larger small town such as Upstate NewYork and the surrounding areas. And turning it into New york City itself. As long as we don’t expand the town’s development into a “anyone and anything” atmosphere. Then we should be ok, and will in fact make the area much richer.
Businesses paying taxes to help out with development. Better paying jobs, or even more convient locally addressed jobs. For people like me, who do not have the option to drive to McKinney or Sherman for work. The sheer fact is that expansion at this time would in fact solve alot of the economic problems our community faces, as well as it’s governing body.