Flower Mound: Times have never been better

By Flower Mound Mayor Tom Hayden

What a great time to be in Flower Mound. There are many so many wonderful things in bloom with  more on the horizon.

First, let me thank our outgoing council members Mike Walker, Mark Wise, and Jean Levenick for the many years of service to our Town. Combined, these three members have contributed over 25 years of service, both on Council and as well as various boards and commissions. It is this civic commitment to Flower Mound that has helped shape our Town into a nationally-recognized community that is continuously recognized as one of the best places to live in the entire country.

Also a hearty welcome to new Council Members Itamar Gelbman, Brian Rountree, and Kevin Bryant. We are looking forward to working with them in continuing to make our community one of the best places to call home. Recently I was reflecting upon the great strides our Town has accomplished over the last several years and as we start a new session this seemed like a good opportunity to ruminate upon how far we have come.

Awards:

• CNN Money Magazine: No. 2 “Best Places to Find a New Job”, No. 12 “Top-Earning Towns”
• 24/7 Wall Street (which supplies news articles to MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance, AOL, MarketWatch, Time.com, USA Today, and The Huffington Post): No.9 “America’s 50 Best Cities to Live”
• D Magazine: No. 8 “Best Suburbs”
• Platinum Scenic City Certification (1 of only 7 Texas municipalities to earn this)
• 20th Consecutive “Tree City USA” designation
• Upgraded Bond Ratings for S&P (“AAA”) and Fitch (“AAA”)

Parks

So many outstanding things have been happening with in our parks system. Heritage Park, one of our largest parks, and when completed will be one of the greatest parks in our area for a Town our size, continues to move toward completion in a multi-million dollar phase out. To date the pavilion, hike and bike trails, and Fort Wildflower, the town’s first community-built playground, have been completed.

Looking forward a splash pad, a dog park, disc golf, a botanical garden with a waterfall and bronze sculptors of native animals will be part of the park.

• Completion of Western Elevated Storage Tank
• Town-Wide Lift Station Auxiliary Power Upgrades
• Bruton Orand, Stonehill, and Waketon Elevated Storage Tanks Rehabilitation Projects
• Water System Leak Detection and Repair
• Lakeside at FM 2499 Pipeline Extension
• Wastewater Treatment Plant Rehabilitation – Phase II
• Twin Coves Park Sewer System
• Town-Wide Lift Station Auxiliary Power Upgrades
• Relocated water lines along FM 1171 and U.S. 377
• Upper Timber Creek Interceptor – Expanded Capacity
• Wellington Interceptor – Expanded Capacity

The Future:

• FM 2499 12” water line
• Western Pump Station
• Wastewater Treatment Plant Rehabilitation Phase IV

Lastly is Economic Development, which has a two-fold level of importance for Flower Mound. First it gives us things to do in our Town as opposed to having to drive to Grapevine, Southlake, or Dallas we can have fun right here. Also keeping our financial resources in Flower Mound is extraordinarily important. To build parks, to maintain our roads, to ensure a quality Police and Fire department it is important that they have the financial resources to be successful. Keeping our tax dollars in Flower Mound helps make this a reality.

Economic Growth:

Flower Mound has achieved some of the greatest economic success in our history over the several years. Perhaps what we all should be most proud of is the number of jobs our Town has added. “Money Magazine” recently listed Flower Mound as the second-best place in the country to find a new job. As one thinks about a Town of 70,000, adding over 5,000 jobs it is quite a feat.

New Job General Categories

• Professional – Full-Time: 1839, Part-Time: 772, Total: 2611
• Restaurant, Retail & Service – Full-Time: 415, Part-Time: 898, Total: 1313
• Other – Full-Time: 846, Part-Time: 284, Total: 1130
• Grand Total: 5054

Of course let us not forget, after decades and decades of our community trying to bring a hotel to Flower Mound, soon we will have two hotels. This first, a mid-range hotel at the River Walk, and the second a luxury hotel among the finest in North Texas overlooking Lake Grapevine. I’ll never forget the head of the largest youth baseball tournament in America standing before Council and saying, the best thing you could do to help our tournament is to bring a place for our guest to stay in our Town.

Other notable openings include: Lakeside Business District (Occupancy Rate: 95%), Signature Systems Group, Keystone Automotive, Whitlock, CustomInk, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Hollymead Cantex Continuing Care Center.

Restaurants: Trio Craft Coffee, Starwood Café, Salata, Penn Station East Coast Subs, Mellow Mushroom, Luna Grill, Prime Farm to Table, Jersey Mike’s (second location), Modmarket, Jet’s Pizza, Dunkin Donuts, Smashburger, Black Walnut Café, Don Vito’s Italian Eatery & Safehouse, Soon, the Town’s first movie theater, Moviehouse & Eatery, will open.

Future Business Announcements:

Restaurants: The Table, Gloria’s Latin Cuisine, Pie Five, Snap Kitchen.

Lakeside DFW Development: Amber Michelle Salon, Bottle & Bottega Studio, Cavaro Prime Brazilian Steakhouse, Elite Pups Luxury Dog Daycare & Spa, Engel & Volkers, Majestic Nail Spa, Paradise Bistro and Coffee Co., Statefarm Insurance, Taverna del Lago, The Lodge Barbershop.

River Walk at Central Park Development: Primo’s Tex Mex Grille, Sfuzzi, and Parquet Sports Bar.

Canyon Falls – Homes being constructed and families moving in.

Flower Mound has been on a tremendous trajectory of economic growth and prosperity. We have become the light on the hill in North Texas. I’m thankful to all our residents for their support and the cliché that the best days are ahead embodies Flower Mound. Blessings to all.