Mayor Gene Carey
Welcome to the City of Lewisville! It is my pleasure to greet you on behalf of the City Council and all 91,000 people who choose to call Lewisville home. The Lewisville community is very proud of its historic roots, which date back hundreds of years to a time when Native American tribes lived along the banks of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. The first settlers came to this area before the Civil War, and some of their first buildings were churches and schools. That’s because they were not creating a stopping place – they were creating a home. Lewisville today is a vibrant and growing community of the 21st century, with major employers and thriving retail outlets that combine to create a strong economic framework for our residents. As mayor, I often am asked to speak to groups about what makes Lewisville special. The truth is that it is one of my favorite subjects to talk about. Since moving here more than 30 years ago, my family and I have grown to truly love Lewisville. Ours is a community with a shared vision of being the finest place in North Texas to live and work, to raise a family and build a business, to visit for a day or stay for a lifetime. And I am happy to report that our vision is becoming a reality every day. That vision starts with creating and maintaining a quality of life that makes people happy and proud to be a part of our community. Back in 2002, Lewisville voters showed their support of that vision by voting overwhelmingly in favor of a sales tax dedicated to parks and library development, thus ensuring the funding needed for our quality of life. That sales tax revenue has been used to build two new family aquatic parks that opened in 2005. The city purchased hundreds of acres of new park land along the Elm Fork of the Trinity that will be developed, starting in 2007, into a signature venue including a dog park, skate park, athletic fields and trails. We also added 60,000 square feet to our library, giving us 80,000 square feet to house 60 public computers and hold more than 160,000 books, videos, DVDs and other materials. Public safety is always a top priority for the Lewisville City Council. Currently in design is a new jail, approved by voters three years ago, that will be located between the current police facility and the Municipal Annex. Unfortunately, jails are a necessary component of an effective police program, and we want to make sure that our facility is one that provides a safe environment for both our employees and our “involuntary guests.” Also in design is Fire House #7, located on Business 121 and Texas Street on the former Owen’s Family Restaurant site. This new facility will house the city’s ladder truck so that it can be quickly dispatched to all parts of the community. Lewisville also supports quality, family-oriented leisure activities. We are blessed with some of the largest and most active youth athletics leagues in North Texas, and have nearly a dozen dance and gymnastics academies in Lewisville or on our outskirts. The Lewisville Lizards brought affordable professional baseball to town in 2007. Lewisville ISD schools are outstanding places of learning and also offer a wide range of extracurricular activities to help develop well-rounded students. The city offers many fun and educational programs for all ages through the recreation and senior centers. We also put on or help coordinate some outstanding special events, such as Western Day in September, Holiday at the Hall in December, Red White & Lewisville on July 4, Cinco de Mayo in the spring, and free outdoor concert series during both the summer and the fall. It is hard to imagine our community without the refreshing waters of Lewisville Lake, which this year was named by the Texas Legislature the “Urban Bass Fishing Capital of Texas.” The city’s largest public park is located on the south shore of the lake, and Lewisville Lake is renowned for active recreation, beautiful wooded shorelines, and outstanding sport fishing. Bassmaster, the world’s top sport-fishing association, held two events on Lewisville Lake during 2005 and two more in 2006. The National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship debuted at Lewisville Lake in 2006 and will return this fall. Some of the most visible effort has been in Old Town, the original business center of Lewisville. New businesses are opening and current businesses are getting a facelift. These steps are happening because of city incentives as well as new, flexible and improved development standards. We want to offer these same types of programs in other parts of town so that older properties can attract new and vibrant businesses and compete effectively with our neighbors. We have seen a range of townhouse products come before the City Council during the past two years, including some very upscale projects that rival traditional single-family projects for values but typically do not place the same strain on the school district. Meanwhile, retail development remains strong in Lewisville, especially in the Vista Ridge Mall area where we’re still seeing new commercial development joining a sizeable existing retail base. In fact, while Lewisville maintains roughly 1.5 percent of the total 16-county population in the DFW area, we have about 7 percent of the total retail space in the DFW area. One very exciting new project will reach completion in August when the Hilton Garden Inn and Lewisville Convention Center open in the Vista Ridge area near the Interstate 35 interchange with State Highway 121. This will be a beautiful six-story hotel with an attached 25,000-square-foot convention center that will bring new and larger events to Lewisville and boost our customer base for nearby hotel, retail and restaurant locations. The Hilton Garden project, along with new or retained major employers such as 21st Century Insurance, EMC Mortgage, The Apparel Group, and Fidelity, are outstanding examples of the city’s proactive approach to economic development. The result has been new jobs, higher property values, and quality growth with conservative and targeted investment by the city. We are an active partner in the development process, and the positive results speak for themselves. We have one of the lowest tax rates in the DFW area. Our bond ratings are excellent and save thousands of dollars each year. Lewisville is truly a great city in which to live, work, and play. I hope that you will take some time to look around Lewisville and see some of what this community has to offer to you and your family, whether you are looking for a place to spend the day or a place to call home. |
