sept-2017

190 191 around $30 million. With a population closing in on 33,000, Hopkinsville is growing at about a quar- ter to a half percent per year, and would love to see that growth pick up pace. The regional population has fared better. Hop- kinsville is part of the metropolitan statis- tical area of Clarksville, Tennessee, with a combined population of about 270,000. Mayor Hendricks explains, “It’s one of the reasons we’re invested in an initiative we call Hoptown-Christian County WINS, that stands for: Wellness, Infrastructure, and Neighborhoods = Success. Over the past year we’ve been formulating this strategy, securing the resources necessary to make significant investment in infrastructure, so we could create a community that would attract more Millennials and military to live in Hopkinsville and Christian County. It’s an effort to drive up our population numbers that we believe will help us with our retail and service sectors to create more jobs and a better quality of life.” Outer areas of the community have al- ready developed residentially, and the city is putting a lot of energy into redeveloping the downtown. For instance, a downtown incentive package for private investors to open a business or convert downtown buildings into residential units has re- sulted in several townhouse and loft-type apartments becoming available. There is a resurgence of retail boutiques, restaurants, a craft brewery, and the city is spending a million dollars, in partnership with the County, to refurbish the historic Alhambra Theater as a performing arts center -all HOPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY HOPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY Total area: 31.78 square miles or 20,339.04 acres Population: 31,811 Labor force: Christian County, 24,887 Unemployment rate: April 2017 (not seasonally adjusted) Christian County, 6.1% Residential tax rate: 23.1 cents for every $100 of real property; 1.95% payroll for those working in city limits Commercial tax rate: 23.1 cents for every $100 of real property; $100 business registration fee and 1.5% fee on gross receipts exceeding $25,000 Median family income: $44,387 Job growth %: Average over 5 years: 5.45% (FY11/12 to FY 15/16) Median Home Value: $114,300 aimed at drawing Millennials and young profes- sionals back to the downtown community for spe- cial events, shopping, dining, and entertainment. Part of the WINS initiative is to connect down- town Hopkinsville, the Farmers’ Market, the public library, and downtown living with the south end of the community, by extending the Greenway all the way out to the city’s main recreation area – The Tie Breaker Park Recreation Campus – that consists of a football stadium, softball fields, a walking trail, and the family aquatics center. “We’re also cognizant of the trend among Millennials to rent rather than own a home,” says Hendricks, “so we’re creating blended neighbor- hoods through the community.We’re providing residential incentives to developers, and antici- pate more blended-type subdivisions with inte- grated home ownership along with multi-family units, townhome rentals, etc., in the coming years. Our strategy, at this point, is to infill with these targeted subdivision developments within the present city limits.We have plenty of properly zoned land available for housing, and a lot of