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Why Bella Charca
New subdivision boosts housing, hope in Nolanville
By Sarah Chacko
Killeen Daily Herald
Monday, November 1, 2004
Nolanville - As frames for the first
houses in the Bella Charca subdivision begin to go up, hopes for
what the upscale housing development might bring to the city are
high.
Although only Section One of the project has been
platted, Bella Charca developer John Blankenship said that with
four more sections in the making, the total build-out will be
close to 600 homes.
Blankenship, president of Bare Land Development
Corporation, said the unique quality of the homes and the
neighborhood developing around them put these houses in the
$200,000 to $400,000 range.
The new neighborhood will up the average home price
along with the population. "Eventually this place will have more
people than the city," Blankenship said. That is something
officials of the 2,000-person town are looking forward to.
Nolanville has seen a small but significant increase in
its property tax revenue over the past few years.
According to the Bell County Tax Appraisal District's records,
from 2000 to 2004 the assessed value of property in Nolanville
has increased nearly 18 percent and the city's tax revenue has
increased 68 percent.
After Section One builds out with nearly 120 lots, the
city can expect more than $170,000 in additional revenue, which
will match what the city budgeted in tax revenue this year.
Mayor Mike Carter said he hopes that more service industries
will follow the community Bella Charca will bring. "I
think anytime you expand by that much and with that type of
housing, you change the dynamics of a city." Carter said.
"People are what bring business."
Other cities in Texas can understand what Nolanville is
anticipating. The city of Frisco has experienced enormous
growth in the last decade. Considered one of the fastest
growing cities in Texas by the North Texas Council of
Governments. Frisco went from a population of about 6,100
people in 1990 to nearly 65,000 this year.
Frisco Assistant City Manger Jason Gray said part of
the growth was the city's location and available transportation
to neighboring business centers. But the visionary
planning and attitude of the residents also contributed.
"The city tried to embrace growth rather than fight it," Gray
said. "Everybody here in Frisco has the idea that growth
is happening and growth is good."
Gray recalls hearing about one of Frisco's first
housing developments, with homes averaging $600,000 or more,
that brought in nearly 2,000 new residents. He applauds
the residents who were there who really made an effort to make
ties with the older part of Frisco instead of separating from
it.
As for economic development, Gray said Fresco didn't
see significant business increases until 2000 when a mall was
built in the city. "Now people had a reason to come to
Frisco from outside of Frisco," Gray said. After that,
retail in Frisco grew as rapidly as its size. Gray
estimates that between 1999 and 2000, more than 100 restaurants
opened. While Frisco may be a far cry from Nolanville,
Gray said it's all relative. "It's just as major a deal
for them as it is for us," he said.
Builder Dustin Dewald said he doesn't consider Bella
Charca necessarily as a rural subdivision because it is located
close to the conveniences of town. "The most important
thing to me was the thought that the developer put into the
identity and common area to make the neighborhood look so good,"
Dewald said.
Unlike developments concerned with utilizing every
square inch of already small lots, Bella Charca homes are
focused on the green space that surrounds them. "It would
be impossible to do this type of full-blown aesthetics here and
put these houses in a lower price range," Blankenship said.
"And we're leaving money on the table. But you have to ask
yourself, 'What legacy do you want to leave behind?'"
Along with the spring-fed pond entrance at Bella
Charca, white limestone rock drainways and planned parks within
the community, the estimated 300-acre development will offer
easy access to major roadways and schools. "We're not
building a neighborhood," Blankenship said. "We're
building a community. A community has closeness ... a
neighborhood is just a place to live."
B&W Homes owner Sam Berndt said that in addition to the
city's lower taxes, the subdivision's upscale atmosphere
attracts people to the area. "There's nothing around here
like that," Berndt said. "Builders feel real energized for
this project." With three houses sold already, Berndt said
Bella Charca shows a lot of potential for the economic
development of Nolanville.
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