Midtown College Station was a passion of a prior council(s). The area does hold tremendous potential to be an extraordinary district with a unique identity. That potential is unrealized. The homeowners there bought into their neighborhood believing it would be much more than what it is, and they paid more than double the property taxes the rest of us do on that belief. It's a frustrating situation. I understand why they're not satisfied. I'm not either.
The good news is no party appears to be in material breach of the various agreements; the infrastructure is top notch; a very cool park is going in about a mile away; the neighborhood and neighbors have a great vibe and there's a sense of camaraderie. There also happens to be a best-in-class health system anchored there. Costco is doing its thing, and there's an exciting development pending just north of it.
What we're missing is optimism and partnership between the developer and city hall. The developer didn't want this to become his career project- he just wanted to build homes. The city wanted Midtown and a YMCA and a walkable downtown and all the rest of it, and wouldn't take no for an answer. Thereafter, once the incentives were in place, the city walked away, having fulfilled its contractual obligations, and said good luck.
At the same time the city wanted exciting growth in that area, it began adopting an ethos of constraint on growth across the city. Perhaps that's not entirely fair… more like "if you want to do business here you're welcome, but be prepared to pay a steep entry fee to do so." That strategy has proven to be incompatible with Midtown- and a lot of other things.
So we have an area with good bones and lots of potential, but the residents are unhappy and spending too much in taxes, and the Developer is unhappy that his original plan he feels was hijacked, and the city is shrugging their shoulders and saying we did what we said we would do…and by the four corners of the agreement, the city did.
That's how we got here.
The question now is what to do next? I don't have a specific policy position yet. It's another conundrum. We have definitely lost a lot of time. Had both parties kept their enthusiasm and pursued it together on complimentary tracks, who knows where we might be today- but we did not.
We could dissolve the MMD and somehow resolve the infrastructure debt. That way the residents of the area would have their tax burden cut in half. The land would develop naturally over time by the private sector.
In the alternative, we could take measured steps to put it back on track. We could prioritize on the capital plan the completion of Town Lake boulevard to the highway and thus create four hard corners at the intersection of Town Lake and Midtown Drive. We could do monuments and signage and branding and create a sense of place that it does not have today. A lot of people don't even know where Midtown College Station is. That's a testament to the failure of everyone involved really. We could rebrand the water tower next to the hospital Midtown College Station. Lord knows we get enough complaints about that one. That would ensure everyone knew where our Midtown was whether you lived there or not. To me it's really pretty embarrassing that we invested so much in this project and people don't even know it's there. We could rebrand Texas Independence Park to simply Midtown Park. We could also build a small community center/rec center there.
Yet a third option would be to go big as the developer is proposing. We do indeed have two studies underway. One is for a robust city recreation center and another for a convention center. The Developer is proposing that they both go there, along with an indoor outdoor waterpark like Great Wolf Lodge.
I don't know what the answer is, but with all this as background, I would love to hear what the bosses have to say. Thoughts?
Respectfully
Yancy '95
My opinions are mine and should not be construed as those of city council or staff. I welcome robust debate but will cease communication on any thread in which colleagues or staff are personally criticized. I must refrain from comment on posted agenda items until after meetings are concluded. Bob Yancy 95
