Northampton has gotten a green light to expand without raising taxes for current residents.
More than 500 single-family homes and 40 acres of higher-end apartment complexes will be developed in Northampton Municipal Utility District, said Bill Black, the LMUD’s vice president.
The development won’t increase taxes for current residents because the land was recently designated as a “deñned area,” said Tim Green, attorney with Coats Rose, a
business transaction and litigation law tirm based in Houston.
Green has been working with the Texas Legislature for four years for the defined area designation to enable development without costing current residents higher tax
bills.
“It allows the remaining acreage in the district to be developed for single-family uses without increasing the taxes on any ofthe existing homeowners.” Green said.
“That was the challenge how to have new development in an area that was initially developed years ago, make it competitive in the market today without impacting the
existing homeowners.”
“The four-year effort was important because without a designation as a ‘defined area,’ the tract of land could not be developed,” Green said.
“Residents of the municipal utility district were supportive of land development but didn’t want taxes to be raised.”
Construction will begin in a year on the single-family homes, to be built by D.Fl. Horton, Black said. The new residents will have a higher, supplemental tax rate.
The development is spurred by the construction of Exxon Mobil’s new SSS-acre campus near the intersection of |-45 and the Hardy Toll Road, just south of The
Woodlands. Exxon Mobil wiII be moving 10,00() employees to the area in 2015.
“The Grand Parkway wiII start construction soon and there wiII be an interchange at Gosling, and so the Exxon Mobil people can simply be one exit away from their
campus to homes,” Black said.
0f the 430-acres of delîned area, only about 175-acres is developable because the other acreage is located in the flood plain, along Spring Creek and Willow Creek.
“It’s a beautiful piece of land, but being a beautiful piece of land, it’s got rolling hills and creeks.” said Green, who specializes in the creation of special purpose districts in
Texas and also represents land developers, land-owners, and homebuilders.
“A lot of that land is in the Hood plain.”
In concert with the county, Northampton MUD hopes to build trails along Willow Creek and create a natural recreational area on that acreage, Black said.
“I think the development is going to improve home values of the existing Northampton area,” Black said.
“And it will increase our recreational area.”
Northampton was developed more than 40 years ago and is located in Harris County, just south of The Woodlands.
It extends eastward to Gosling Road, westward to Kuykendahl and southward to Root Road.
The community, in the Klein Independent School District, has numerous parks, ponds, pools and playgrounds.