EDC director shares plans, Celina Record

EDC director shares plans for Celina’s growth Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Jan 29, 2016 It is possible that no one is more excited about the tremendous growth headed to Celina than Corbett Howard. As the longtime executive director of the Celina Economic Development Corp., Howard has spent years working behind the scenes with major residential and commercial developers, as well as city planners and others, in preparation for big changes that will certainly reshape the local landscape. “I guess you could say I’m Celina’s salesman, and it’s my passion,” said Howard, who served as the city’s mayor from 2002 through 2008. In his office that looks out onto Celina’s downtown square, he recently showed off his newest sales tool: the EDC’s 2016 marketing and development map. The large, colorful map details current and planned residential, commercial and other development areas and projects, as well as key infrastructure and related elements that already exist or are expected to be built within Celina’s 78-square-mile footprint. Howard presents the maps to the numerous site selectors, retailers, commercial real estate brokers and developers, among others, that he meets with annually. The maps are also available for the public to view on the EDC’s website, celinaedc.com. Howard had the EDC begin creating the maps biannually while he was mayor. The first one was completed in 2006. “We created a map that kind of began to formulate what our comprehensive land-use (plan) looked like,” he explained, and it included as much information as was known at the time about planned development and infrastructure projects. “If you look at Celina over the last 20 years, that’s the formative years” that guided the city to where it is today, he said, and prepared it “for the explosion (of development) that’s getting ready to happen.” Among the highlights of the 2016 map is a section near the bottom that stretches across Celina’s 10-mile southern border with Prosper. Along Farm to Market 1461 (also known as Frontier Parkway) and Parvin Road, between FM 2478 (Custer Road) to the east and FM 1385 to the west, there are several large residential developments planned that have already broken ground or are scheduled to break ground this year. Aside from Celina, Howard said, “There’s no town that I know of – Frisco included – that can tell you in one single year, development will start from the entire breadth of their footprint.” When construction is complete years from now, that section of the city will boast nearly 10,000 homes. Among the developments is Mustang Lakes, which will be built on 1,850 residential lots. Nearby is Wells South by Hillwood Communities. The company, owned by Ross Perot Jr., will develop around 1,300 lots. Meanwhile, construction continues on homes in the established Light Farms development. On the western side of the Dallas North Tollway, a development called Creeks of Legacy is proposed with 1,030 residential lots. Abutting the Denton County line, some 2,290 lots are planned for a community called Sutton Field. Because of established zoning lines, students living in these and other developments along the city’s southern border will attend schools within the Prosper Independent School District. “It’s good news for us because it doesn’t put pressure on (Celina’s) school district,” Howard explained. Other areas of the city will also experience residential development, which are highlighted on the EDC’s map. “I’m excited about the rooftops,” Howard said, “because the rooftops are going to allow me to strategically go after key corners” in an effort to attract commercial and retail development to the city. Those corners, designated in red on the map, include areas around the existing Celina Town Center shopping complex, as well as a large swath further north on Preston Road in an area just south of what will be FM 455 following its future northern realignment. Celina residents spend more than $92 million annually outside of the city limits, Howard said. When it comes to attracting developers to build shopping centers, restaurants and such, “That’s our potential here, and retailers look at that,” he added. An area just east of the BNSF railroad line has been designated for light-industrial use. Howard speculated that part of the city may someday be home to cold-storage and food-processing plants. “They’re sterile, they’re clean, they look good and they’re great employment centers,” he said. “If you want something that’s light-industrial (use), that’s what you want.” Howard said he is confident that future development within the city will include a major hospital. Also, he said he has already had discussions with individuals (whom he did not name) about possibly building entertainment venues in Celina. “They know where we are and they’ve looked at our demographic,” he said. Given the city’s proximity to the Dallas North Tollway, “They realize that it is going to be a location with a lot of great arterials, and that some kind of an entertainment venue would be phenomenal.” Howard said the city’s population stands at around 12,000. By 2020, that number is expected to grow to 30,000, and a decade later to 100,000. At that point, “We will be (the same population that) Frisco was two years ago,” he said. By 2050, with an estimated 345,000 residents, Celina will likely be the second largest city in Collin County, following McKinney. The growth “is coming. It doesn’t matter what you do,” he said. “You can either plan it and develop it properly, or you can just let it go crazy.” Also designated on the map are several areas throughout the city considered historic, including the downtown square and adjacent neighborhoods. Despite the imminent development, Howard said city officials remain dedicated to preserving Celina’s foundation. “I think as long as we can remember where came from … and maintain our heritage so that people understand that, we will always be talking about it,” he said.