Iowa Colony-TX

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 IOWA COLONY, TE XAS Consulting Magazine ranked both of these communities in the top 40 in the nation, further highlighting the potential of Iowa Colony. Iowa Colony is divided by State Highway 288, and maintaining connectivity within the city has remained a priority. For this reason, major thoroughfare plans and collector roads have been outlined in the city’s master plan for development. “These roads provide connectivity throughout the city,” explains Ho. “This integrates all of the points of interest to recreational facilities, and to all educational facilities. There is a significant amount of connectivity between all the master- planned communities within the city.” In the future development, the city has announced developer DR Horton will be extending the nearby Caldwell Ranch master-planned community in adjacent Fort Bend County into Iowa Colony, which will bring approximately 1,500 new homes. Hines Development has also acquired about 1,000 acres, adding another 2,500 homes. The Meridiana community is in a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), and a Municipal Utilities District (MUD). This allows the developer to invest in high-quality infrastructure, such as roads, water, and wastewater systems, and later be reimbursed through those funding mechanisms. Sterling Lakes is also a MUD, and Hemminger relays that when they were annexed into the city, a rebate agreement was created to keep the tax rate consistent throughout Iowa Colony. “The city gives some of the property taxes back to the MUD to basically buy down the MUD tax rate,” he says.” It keeps us on an even playing field throughout the community.” That also enabled the building of infrastructure in both of these communities to be done by the developer. “The city was such a small community, it was even referred to back then as a village, and it just didn’t have the funding or the capacity to go in and invest in that infrastructure to support this growth, “acknowledges Hemminger. “Once they sell lots and have homes on the