I moved to Texas to one of the greatest “suburbs” in the country - Southlake. It is so nice, the whole state of Texas hates us.
We have 2 rules: 1) No Lot smaller than 1/2 Acre and 2) No Multifamily residences (except for 55 and older retirement comunities or $700K+ “Brownstones” downtown).
Our schools are the among the best in the country, the whole town is walkable and we’ve had 1 murder in the last 15 years (a Mexican drug lord Lawyer/informant living in a $1.3M house). Our Police, Firefighters and Teachers are world class and they love working in a place where the kids want to learn, Crime is low and their equipment is top notch.
In Texas, we don’t have Income Tax, and the main source of revenue is Property Tax. Good Neighborhoods have higher property values, so they pay more property tax. Suburban City planners that are smart, realize that Property Values = Money and they do everything they can to keep the Property values high to keep the money coming in.
Please do not misunderstand me. I think walkable communities are great. My husband and I love taking the dogs for a walk in the park then crossing the street to get a loaf of French bread from the grocery store, walking to the post office, etc.
We have a “walkable community” in this city. Of course, the developer came to the city for TIF money to build the commercial areas to serve his walkable community. And the nature trails for his walkable community? Given to the Park Department so the maintenance costs could be enjoyed by the entire city.
In our city the Planning & Development Department has been completely shut out of the economic development process. Of course, they know that high property values=money, but I think the powers-that-be would rather have the prestige of having XYZ project built, rather than deal with the lack of taxes XYZ would bring in. Sad, really.