Are We Ready?

Jeremy DavidsonEconomic Development, Monday Memo

Our little center of quite a lot is getting ready to really, REALLY grow a lot…  

And how do we know that?  It’s not from reading tea leaves, or a crystal ball. We didn’t discover that information in a fortune cookie, overhear it at the coffee shop or see it in a horoscope…  

We figured this BIG secret out by paying addition to …. (wait for it) …. The new housing subdivisions taking place in the County and in the City. 

By our best estimate, we believe there are over 36new single housing developments either currently underdevelopment or in design in this County And we are confident that we have missed some of the other developments that are moving dirt and being planned for our area. 

While our review is more about paying attention to what is taking place, and asking those in know, if we will pay attention to the message it sends, we should gain a better sense of what is already taking place in our area.

As we look at the locations of the new single-family housing areas, we can easily see that there is a strong concentrations of housing development, just east of the Pottawatomie County line, running from just north of I-40, south to the Highway 59B area.

At the same time there are new single-family housing developments within the City limits of Shawnee on the northside, westside, eastside, in the middle, and elsewhere. 

Our not so scientific research allowed us to locate housing work at the far northern part of the county and in the extreme northeast corner in the panhandle.  

We found new projects that are underway which will allow for more homes near the Northrock Creek, Bethel Acres, Dale, Tecumseh, Southrock Creek, Grove and Shawnee Public Schools areas.

So, what does it all mean?

It means that the expand of the Metro area isn’t going to wait until the ongoing Interstate roadway work has been completed.   To us it indicates that the population expansion our area is expecting to take place has already started, with more to come. 

And for your consideration, if we are paying attention to the signs and indicators that are right in front of us, it tells us that we just may want to spend some time on determining if we are prepared for what is already taking place. 

Our bet is some are and most aren’t…