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Growth makes my head spin

Blogger’s Note: This item was published initially in the Dallas Morning News as a guest op-ed from … yours truly.

It wasn’t long ago, or so it seems, that few among us knew where to find Princeton, Texas.

My wife and I moved to the Collin County community in February 2019 and my stock answer to the question from asking where we had decided to sink our stakes, “Where is Princeton?” was, “We’re eight miles east of McKinney on U.S. Highway 380.” Then came the knowing nod.

Today, six years later, fewer of us have to ask where one can find Princeton. Because the city has become the fastest-growing city in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Here are some numbers. The 2010 Census pegged Princeton’s population at 6,807 residents. The 2020 Census elevated that number to 17,027 residents, except that the 2020 Census figure was obsolete before they posted the signs entering the city. The Census Bureau estimated the city population to be around 37,000 in 2024. But wait! Newly appointed Princeton City Manager Mike Mashburn estimates the actual population to be well more than 42,000 residents, based on the number of water meters that are online.

So, the city has exploded from 6,807 to more than 42,000 residents in 15 years.

And guess what … it isn’t letting up. Not even a little bit.

You might wonder: Why did we pick Princeton? It’s close to Allen, where our son and his family live, and his family includes our only grandchild. My wife found the subdivision one night while scrolling online. She told me about what she found. We found out the houses for sale were within our price range, we selected a house, we negotiated a deal. It was done! And I don’t regret making our investment in Princeton.

The City Council realized it didn’t have sufficient infrastructure to serve the burgeoning population. It enacted a moratorium in 2024 on new residential construction. The first ban lasted six months. Then the council extended it. The council likely will have to keep extending it until two things happen: It can have infrastructure in place and it completes all the pending building permits the city issued prior to declaring the ban on residential construction.

I am not an urban planner, but I do get a snootful from officials throughout my community about the perils associated with this rapid growth.

The Princeton public school system is in the midst of a building boom to accommodate the thousands of students expected to enroll in Princeton ISD. Superintendent Donald McIntyre rolls his eyes when he talks about the growth, saying he “can’t build these campuses quickly enough.” They open new campuses and learn immediately that they are stuffed beyond capacity. The district installs portable classrooms immediately to accommodate the overflow. Lowe Elementary School was erected in 2020 and installed two portable classrooms during its first year of operation. The district is now building an elementary school near the Lowe campus to give students moving into the neighborhood a second place to attend class.

Two middle schools are under construction and in 2027, PISD plans to start building a second high school … and has purchased land to accommodate a third high school eventually.

McIntyre agrees he’d rather have this problem than the kind facing other districts – such as Keller and Fort Worth ISDs – that are having to close campuses. However, the growth explosion makes projecting student population with any accuracy a virtual impossibility.

How does the city provide infrastructure? It must hire more police officers and firefighters. That process, of course, takes time, given that applicants have to complete certification training before they can suit up and report for duty. The Princeton Fire Department recently opened two new stations to serve the population north of U.S. 380 and farther southwest along Myrick Lane. It recently completed work on a water treatment plant near the western city limit. The police department, last I heard, was more than 30 officers short of what it needs to keep the peace and enforce the law in Princeton. Police Chief Jim Waters has his hands full, too, keeping pace. The city recently voted to cease providing fire protection for residents living in the unincorporated areas around the city because the city must provide coverage for the growing number of residents moving into homes inside the city limits.

On top of all this, Princeton faces is a stunning lack of commercial development. It recently rezoned a 90-acre parcel on the north side of US 380, expecting to break ground on a massive commercial project. No ground has been broken. The growth continues to be almost exclusively residential, with families being lured to Princeton by the relatively inexpensive real estate prices. And the city has struggled with a contractor and a developer who keep fighting while a massive apartment complex along US 380 seemingly – in the middle of construction — sits idle with little progress being made toward its completion.

I need to mention, too, that traffic has become a nightmare around here. The Texas Department of Transportation has laid out grand plans to build a freeway bypass around Princeton. The state’s road crews no doubt will slow traffic along US 380 even more than what is occurring now as the state seeks to divert through-traffic away from US 380 and onto the bypass.

And only God knows when the bypass will get done.

I have wondered on occasion over the years what it would be like to live in a rapidly growing city such as Princeton, Texas. Now I know. It’s not what it is cracked up to be.

The good news is that it eventually will get done. The city will mature fully and will become a place familiar to anyone seeking a place to call home. I hope I live long enough to enjoy it.

local news

City playing catch-up with growth

When you attach the adjective “explosive” in front of the noun “growth,” you might be describing a community that is struggling to cope with why so many people are moving into your neighborhood.

Princeton, Texas — where I have lived for more than six years — is in the midst of a growth explosion. This one-time rural burg is now the fastest-growing city in the entire United States of America. Its 2020 Census was pegged at 17,027 residents. The city’s estimated population, just five years on, stands at 37,000 … give or take. City officials have said the actual estimation is well past 40,000 based on the number of water meters online.

The city council recently extended a moratorium it placed in new residential construction another 160 days, until November 2025. My own view of the future of the building ban? Good luck if you think you’ll have made significant progress on the infrastructure to lift the ban. I don’t see it happening. Then again, I didn’t predict a building ban in the first place.

Princeton has to install a lot of infrastructure to keep pace with the growth that continues to occur. It needs more police and firefighters. The chiefs of both departments say they are making progress in achieving those goals. The police department seemingly needs many more officers to cover the city properly and my hope is that Chief Jim Waters is able to secure the funds needed. He faces additional salary funds and money to equip the officers with state-of-the-art equipment. Fire Chief Shannon Stephens is in the same predicament in needing qualified firefighters to be on call 24/7.

The city needs water to deliver to the thousands of newbies who want to move here. Sewer service, too.

I am a bit dubious as to whether has bought enough time to secure all of that in the next 160 days. For one thing, even though the city imposed the moratorium in September 2024, it still must honor building permits that already have been issued to homebuilders. Take a quick gander in the city and you see plenty of new housing being erected. They soon will be home to new residents who will seek service that the city promises to deliver.

One more aspect deserves a mention: schools. While many communities are closing schools because of dwindlng student enrollment, Princeton cannot build schools quickly enough to accomodate the flow of students who are enrolling here. While it might seem like a “nice problem” to have, Princeton ISD Superintendent Don McIntyre doesn’t smile much when he ponders how he will accommodate all the new children coming into our public school system.

And so, the struggle continues in a city my wife and I barely knew about when we moved here. Now it seems everyone knows about Princeton and they want to be a part of the action.

local news

Moratorium imposed … for now

Princeton’s city council has taken an action that I wasn’t sure it would take … it has voted to impose a temporary ban on residential construction.

The council will take a final vote on a proposed ordinance next month.

You know what? I think the city has acted wisely. Four months might not be long enough, though, for the city to obtain the infrastructure it says it needs to serve the thousands of people who want to make Princeton their home.

Police Chief Jim Waters says he needs to hire 30 more police officers to protect and serve the city’s burgeoning population. The city needs to build more water towers to help regulate water pressure. And the city surely needs to finish its massive street repair and maintenance projects.

Princeton now is home to an estimated 33,000 residents, roughly double the number of humans counted for the 2020 Census. The number continues to skyrocket.

Mayor Brianna Chacon broached the subject of a moratorium a few months ago, saying the city has grown “too fast.”

So, the city has decided to put the brakes on its residential construction. It’s a short-term ban. Let’s hope it is sufficient to allow Princeton to catch its breath.

local news

City needs visionary

A Princeton City Hall staffer who has become a source for this blogger has informed me that the City Council has yet to decide how it intends to look for a new city manager.

I am about to offer some unsolicited advice on how to find a successor to Derek Borg, who resigned suddenly the other evening after the council called an emergency meeting to discuss the city manager’s status.

My advice is simple: Go big, members of the council and hire a top-flight executive search firm to find a candidate who is able to lead the city along its explosive growth path. 

Princeton’s growth continues to astonish many of us who have moved here in recent years. My wife and I planted our roots in Princeton in early 2019. The city’s census figures released the following year showed it nearly tripled in growth from the 2010 population.

The very last thing Princeton needs to run its municipal government machinery is a placeholder, an individual who is just there to await his or her retirement. The city’s next manager should have a clear vision on what the city needs and a plan that can enable the city to find its way into the future.

Borg did an adequate job during his era as city manager. However, he wasn’t educated in municipal management. He is a firefighter, serving as the city fire marshal and then fire chief before ascending to the manager’s job.

The next Princeton city manager, as far as I am concerned, should be educated in the field of municipal growth management. He or she should have high energy and a relentless desire to seek fresh ideas, new approaches. The next manager also, in my view, ought to deliver a stated commitment to helping this city develop an identity.

Allow me this bit of candor: Princeton is a work in progress. It has no municipal identity. A new city manager shouldn’t have to concoct an identity, but he or she should be able to question those who have been here a long time about what makes Princeton such a desirable community to live.

It is quite obvious that many thousands of people are coming here to raise families, earn their living and presumably call this place “home.”

The next city manager ought to be able to provide a reason for them to stay and for the city to progress into the future with confidence.

local news

Princeton manager search commences

President Biden said the other evening that the United States is “at an inflection point.” as it grapples with the complexity of world affairs. Well, so is the city in Collin County, Texas, that I now call home.

The Princeton City Council this week accepted the resignation of its city manager, Derek Borg. The council had called a special meeting to “discuss” the manager’s job performance. It met in closed session for two hours and then voted 5-0 to accept Borg’s resignation … effective immediately.

Inflection point? Boy howdy. Is it ever.

Princeton is in the midst of a growth explosion. Its population nearly tripled from the 2010 to the 2020 Census, from 6,807 residents to 17,027 residents. But the growth hasn’t even begun to abate. By most folks’ estimates, the population of Princeton has exceeded 25,000 people.

Which brings me to my point. The City Council must get this search, vetting and selection of a new chief municipal administrator right … or else!

The council makes one personnel hire under the terms of its charter. It chooses the city manager, who then selects department heads.

If I could write the ideal profile for a city manager to run a city on the move such as Princeton it would have to include “visionary.” It also must include someone with experience administering another city going through the growth that is happening in Princeton. The city manager must be creative and forward-thinking.

Princeton does not need a caretaker, a placeholder, someone who is just marking time until retirement. Princeton’s growth requires a city administration led by someone who knows where he or she wants to take this community.

I don’t want to overstate it, but I do believe this community has reached its form of “inflection” as it grapples with overwhelming growth. It needs a city manager who can take charge of City Hall’s municipal machinery.

To the City Council, I only can add that it is time to get busy.