Tag Archives: Princeton City Council

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Complex defies logic

Suppose someone had placed a loaded pistol to my noggin, cocked the hammer and told me to predict the future of a long-abandoned 360-unit partially built apartment complex in Princeton, Texas.

I would have said, under duress, that it would be knocked down, the rubble scraped up and the site turned iinto a park.

Silly me. The City Council instead decided to give the developer some grace and told him to finish the job.

So, the Princeton Luxury Apartment complex is being built again on U.S. Highway 380 just east of the Wal-Mart store.

Let me be clear. I still question the wisdom of granting the permit years ago to proceed with this complex, given the growth occurring in Princeton and the incredible strain on traffic that this complex is going to bring to an already-stressed traffic thoroughfare. I heard about the pending project immediately after my wife and I moved to Princeton. My first reaction was muted, but then I grew to wonder: What was the City Council thinking?

The contractor and the developer got into a snit about three years ago. The contractor walked off the job, leaving it about 30%-ish complete. It sat there vacant, only turning into more of an eyesore with each passing season of inclement weather.

Then, something of a miracle happened. The developer was able to find a contractor to finish the task. Three buildings, though, were knocked down because they were beyond redemption.

The site, though, is humming once again with construction through the winter wind chills.

I’ve noted already that a city’s progress occasionally brings some pain along the way. Princeton is one such city that is a work in progress. Its populaton far exceeds the 17,027 Census figure on the signs entering Princeton. City Council has enacted a building ban on residential developments at least until this summer.

The apartment complex in question is going to open about the time work begins to widen U.S. 380, turning the highway into the last place on Earth you want to be during morning and evening rush hours.

Princeton’s progress is proceeding. I only hope now that the apartment complex, once it’s finished, will add another jewel to the growing city’s crown.

economic news, local news

Princeton does the inevitable

Princeton’s City Council had no choice but to do what it did Monday night by extending the building moratorium it had placed on new single-family dwelling and apartment construction.

It voted to extend its four-month building ban another six months.

So, let’s see. That means it will be 10 months before the city could start issuing building permits on those types of dwellings. This is just me, but my gut tells me another extension could be in the deck of cards that council members would want to play.

Princeton’s population continues to explode, But ,.. wait! The city needs more police officers, more firefighters, more medical emergency personnel, better streets, more electric utilities, more natural gas lines.

Moreover, the city needs much more commercial development, which isn’t part of the public financing obligation associated with infrastructure development. That commercial development is on the verge of become a reality.

A Princeton resident told CBS News Texas Channel 11 last night that folks here have to go to places such as McKinney and Allen for entertainment or to just purchase needed goods and commodities.

Princeton has developed an ocean of single-family rooftops. That’s fine, but the strain on new residents’ tax obligation is more than many of the newbies would care to absorb.

The city has some catching-up to do and I’m not sure six months extra time is enough.

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Progress comes with price

Progress, I am learning in real time, almost always comes with a price.

That price is particularly evident in fast-growing communities such as the one where I have lived for the past nearly six years.

Princeton is a city on the move. The city council recently enacted a building moratorium on new home construction. It’s a four-month ban that likely will need to be extended. The council’s decision was based on lack of infrastructure to accommodate the thousands of new residents who have moved here since the 2020 Census.

Get this: The 2020 Census pegged Princeton’s population at 17,027. This year, the population is estimated to be more than 28,000 residents. It continues to skyrocket.

The needs greater water capacity, more emergency services personnel — such as police officers and firefighters. Princeton won’t get all that done in four months.

In addition, Collin County recently closed County Road 398 just south of my house all the way to FM 546. CR 398 has been serving as an alternate route to take motorists off of U.S. Highway 380, the main drag that runs through a number of Collin County cities. My GPS system does guide me a bit farther south to CR 447, which then loops around to pick up FM 546. CR 398 needs lots of work, as it is full of dips and crevices for the mile between Beauchamp Boulevard and FM 546.

Oh, one more thing. The Texas Department of Transportation has finalized the findings of the environmental impact study it has conducted that precedes a major highway development project designed to bypass traffic around Princeton and other cities along U.S. 380. I might not live long enough to see that project finished, but it’s going to be huge.

Yes, we are paying the progress of being such a desirable place for folks to live, to work and to raise families. I welcome them.

But the price we’re all paying is going to become a major pain in the rear … until it gets finished.

local news

Monstrosity on its way down!

All the yammering around Princeton regarding that 300-unit apartment complex that has gone to serious seed must have been heard by those who needed to hear it.

I just noticed crews at work taking down several of the buildings. And this is in advance of a public meeting set for this evening at Princeton Municipal Complex to discuss the future of the site.

It looks to me as if its future might have been decided. The demolition underway involves the razing of three structures deemed damaged beyond repair. There’s too much mold and water damage to the buildings to save them. So … they’re coming down!

The City Council is meeting as the city’s Housing Standards Authority. It will discuss the various — and numerous — code violations that render the site unworkable.

I am one of many Princeton residents who is delighted to see the work commence to rid the city of this monumental eyesore created when the contractor walked off the job after getting into a snit with the developer.

We’ll just have to stand by while the work continues and see what in the name of civic improvement occurs with the site on US 380.

Keep pounding away, fellas.

local news

Meeting set once again

I had reported on this blog my intention to comment on a special Princeton City Council meeting called to discuss the fate of that construction eyesore next to Wal Mart on US Highway 380.

Then the council postponed the meeting. It will meet this Thursday at 5 p.m. acting as the Princeton Housing Standards Authority. Now, they tell me, there will be a hearing to decide the fate of the abandoned, partially built, rotting luxury apartment complex that appears to be going nowhere in a hurry.

The general contractor got into a beef with the developer and walked off the job in the spring of 2023. My guess is that it’s about 40% finished. Will it cross the finish line? My gut along with my ol’ trick knee tell me “no.”

I intend to be present for this rescheduled hearing on Thursday. I don’t yet know whether the council make a decision that night. I asked Mayor Brianna Chacon whether there will be a decision; I haven’t received an answer.

I want to see some leadership on this matter rise to the occasion.

Let’s get rid of that eyesore.

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Looking ahead to key meeting

Every so often, events align in such a way that enable to get a first-hand look at what a governing authority intends to do about an issue I am discussing on this blog.

Monday night, the Princeton City Council is convening to discuss the fate of a hideous eyesore that occupies a parcel next to Wal-Mart along US Highway 380. It’s that apartment complex that has gone seriously to seed over the past many months.

The city has declared that it suffers from several code violations. It’s unsafe. It is in fact rotting before our eyes.

A contractor started work on the massive luxury apartment complex. Then he got into a beef with the developer and walked away.

The city council, acting as a housing standards authority, must decide what to do about. For me, the session occurs at 5 p.m. Monday and I am going to be there as a Princeton resident/blogger.

The Princeton Herald will assign a reporter to cover it. Me? I get to watch it unfold in real time.

The city, I suppose, could decide Monday on the fate of the project. It could take it all under advisement and reconvene later for a decision. The decision might be to knock it down. Or … they could decide the site is worth rehabilitating.

I’ve stated already I believe the project needs to vanish. It’s not my call. It belongs to the city. I’m just an interested observer with a lot to say on what the city council decides.

local news

Homebuilding ban? For now … yes!

Princeton Mayor Brianna Chacon has planted the seed of an idea that needs to germinate and grow into a verified municipal policy.

She wants the city she governs to enact a moratorium on new home construction. Details are scant. Indeed, they don’t seem to exist in any fashion.

But I think the mayor is onto something the city council should consider and should consult heavily with its legal counsel on how to make it happen.

Princeton’s growth has been spectacular over the course of the past decade. The 2010 Census pegged the city population at just shy of 7,000 residents; the 2020 Census lists the population at 17,027 people; the current estimated population stands at around 28,000, according to city officials.

The city has grown too rapidly, Chacon told the council at the end of its regular Monday evening meeting. It needs to stop building residential units at the breakneck pace under which it has been operating.

I am going to report more on this idea in a later blog post. For now I am going to stick with what has been reported.

The city clearly must honor the building permits it has issued. It cannot face any possible litigation from aggrieved builders and real estate agents. And as I drive around the areas near my home, I see many acres of land that have been platted and prepared for construction. The city has installed hundreds of utility outlets on the properties, which suggests to me the city has many building permits that need to be honored before it pulls the plug on future construction.

Chacon reminded council members that the city has limited resources and it must spend that money on developing infrastructure that hasn’t kept pace with the home construction. “We grew too fast,” Chacon told the council.

Streets need improvement, Chacon said, apparently acknowledging the complaints she likely has heard from residents about the condition of streets in some of our older neighborhoods.

I am one Princeton resident who is interested in the details of this proposal that must come soon. How soon will it be enacted? How long does the city expect it to last? Will the city continue its push to bring more commercial development to Princeton?

I am all ears, Mme. Mayor. So, I will bet, is the rest of this city.

local news

It’s all about the turnout

Allow me this brief moment to express my frustration over what I expect will occur in early November.

My neighbors and I are going to vote for Princeton City Council members, for Princeton Independent School District trustees and for a special municipal referendum calling for the formation of a home-rule charter committee.

The frustration, which I expect fully to experience, will be in the abysmal voter turnout.

Mayor Brianna Chacon, who is running for re-election to a full term, is urging us to vote. She laments the historically low turnout for these municipal elections. It well might fall into the single-digit percentage of eligible voters who actually cast ballots on Nov. 2. That stinks to high heaven, man!

How many times must I say the same thing? Which is that local elections bring the most tangible impact on us as voters. We don’t care! Or so the dismal turnouts would suggest. City Councils set our tax policy; they determine the level of police and fire protection we receive; they set policy for trash pickup; they spend money to repair our streets.

The home-rule charter committee decision has me particularly juiced up. Princeton’s population exploded between the 2010 and 2020 census; we now are home to more than 18,000 inhabitants. Texas law grants cities with populations of 5,000 or greater the right to seek home-rule charter governance; Princeton currently is governed as a “general law” city, adhering to laws written by the Legislature.

We gotta change that, folks!

I don’t want to see a miserable voter turnout make that decision. We need to have everyone casting ballots who is eligible to do so.

Are we clear? Good! See you at the polls!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Go slower out there!

BLOGGER’S NOTE — This blog was posted initially on KETR-FM’s website, KETR.org. 

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Princeton City Councilman Mike Robertson is a man after my own heart … speedwise.

He wants to slow motorists down as they travel along U.S. Highway 380, at least while they’re traveling within the city limits.

Robertson is pitching a notion to slow motorists down to 40 mph within the city limits. Currently, the limits vary, from 45, to 50 to 60 mph.

The Princeton Herald is covering this story and it quoted Robertson, thusly: “It doesn’t make any sense to keep such a high speed limit through town.” Yeah. Do you think?

Indeed, U.S. 380 often is clogged with stop-and-go traffic during much of the day. It’s a busy thoroughfare that coarses through the fast-growing community.

The city, though, has limited options. It cannot act on its own because U.S. 380 is maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, according to the Princeton Herald, which reported: “The city does not have the authority to reduce the speed, however, it has taken measures to slow down traffic within city limits with one new stoplight and they are working on installing a second light.”

Indeed, the addition of signals comports with what City Manager Derek Borg told me about a year ago as we discussed the traffic issues along U.S. 380. Borg is acutely aware of the traffic snarls that occur along the highway and thinks the increased traffic signals, among other things, will help motorists seeking to enter the highway from side streets.

I believe Councilman Robertson is onto something. In fact, when I see the Herald each week, I look at the police blotter section on Page 2 … and what do I see? I often see several instances of “major auto accidents” along U.S. 380. The blotter entry doesn’t designate whether they are speed-related. My strong hunch is that, well, many of them are related to motorists traveling too rapidly along a busy thoroughfare choked with other motor vehicles.

The Herald reports that TxDOT is “receptive” to the idea of slowing vehicles down, but notes any action might require some time for a change to be made official.

Whatever you do, don’t drag your feet, TxDOT. I am one motorist and Princeton resident who backs a councilman’s request to slow the traffic down.

local news

Dial it back, partisans

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The partisan juices are flowing on this Election Day.

We’re going to elect a president and a whole lot of other officeholders up and down the ballot. This morning I had an encounter with a Democratic partisan who, I hasten to add, needs to dial back her political fervor more than just a little bit.

She was wearing a Biden-Harris shirt while sitting in front of First Baptist Church in Princeton, Texas, one of Collin County’s many polling locations. I was there to snap a picture for KETR-FM public radio. I told my new acquaintance I had voted already but was there to take a picture.

After I whispered to her that I had voted for her guy for president, she informed me of the “need” to “elect more Democrats to the City Council and the school board.”

Huh? Eh? What? I reminded her immediately that council and school board members serve as non-partisan public servants. They aren’t affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. She said she knows that, but added that a school board candidate wants to “ban masks” in schools, meaning that the individual is clearly a Republican. No, no, no, I said. We cannot push partisan politics onto non-partisan governing bodies, I admonished her.

Well, I guess that encounter exemplifies the partisan fervor that has hit a fever pitch.

Election Day will come and go. We’ll awaken in the morning to another sunny day. I hope we have a new president waiting to take office. As for the Princeton City Council and the Princeton Independent School District Board of Trustees and their political composition … let’s not inject partisanship into those races. Those folks are in office to the public’s business without regard to which party they might belong.