Water workaround From the cover
The details
Two-minute impact
The water plant, which has been bid and awarded, will take around nine months to a year to complete. “We just want to make sure that there’s nothing that would impede our ability to deliver additional lots to our builders or the ability of any of the other users in the project—the commercial users or the multifamily users—to continue with their develop- ment,” Yager said. Meanwhile, Parkside Capital owns a roughly 30-acre tract next to Magnolia West High School anticipated to be a mix of commercial and build-to- rent residential development. “The city of Magnolia has been very reasonable with us and worked with us, in particular on this tract, so we could go ahead and extend water and sewer lines,” Parkside Capital President Brett Walker said. “Now the only thing remaining is tying into the capacity that they’re constructing.”
Amid the city’s efforts, there are over 32,000 lots platted for future development, according to Magnolia ISD’s spring 2022 demographics report conducted by Zonda Education. That development includes 3,000-acre mas- ter-planned community Audubon. Sam Yager III, executive vice president of Sam Yager Inc. and developer of Audubon, said a water well for the community was completed last July, which has allowed the development to continue building out. “We would be behind [without the well],” Yager said. “We had commitments to our builders, so when we found out that the city was unable to provide the water, ... we knew immediately that what we needed to do was spring into action.” Yager said Audubon’s well cost around $1.5 million to build, and after expanding it into a water plant, the total cost will be around $3 million.
The city has approximately 3,600 connections, with around 11,000 still expected to be needed within the next five years, city engineer Tim Robertson said. “Things can change that are beyond our control that would either increase or maybe even decrease that [11,000] number,” Robertson said. “But I honestly don’t foresee it. Development in this area of Montgomery County and this particular area of this part of Texas is very, very hot.” Having completed water wells Nos. 7 and 8 at a combined cost of around $7.73 million, Magnolia is now focused on building out wells Nos. 9 and 10. “We have a pretty good plan laid out,” Robertson said. “[We’re] trying to do two wells per year to meet the demand that we think is coming and provide some redundancy in the system.” Doering said much of the funding to pay for new wells is coming from impact fees, which are one-time fees collected to fund a new water user’s share of the city’s water or wastewater capacity. Magnolia raised its impact fees in May 2022 to $7,400 per single-family connection, according to prior reporting. Previously, impact fees were $4,800 per single-family connection. “That’s what impact fees are there for, is to cover the future expansion,” Magnolia Mayor Todd Kana said. The city also has around $15 million in reserves from selling certificates of obligation that could be used to fund future water infrastructure, Doering said in an April 9 email.
Magnolia-area developments underway*
Magnolia Village: 60 acres Magnolia Place: 142 acres Heritage Green: 48 acres Parkside Capital tract: 29 acres Audubon: 3,000 acres
249
149
1486
1488
1774
NICHOLS SAWMILL RD.
Water connections
N
existing 3,600 11,000
*THIS MAP IS NOT COMPREHENSIVE
SOURCES: AUDUBON, PARKSIDE CAPITAL, MONTGOMERY CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
+205.5%
expected within the next five years
What they’re saying
Per day, one connection uses roughly 315 Gallons of water 270 Gallons of wastewater
"What the moratorium has done is protect us from future development until we’re ready for it." TODD KANA, MAGNOLIA MAYOR
“We just don’t want to be caught off guard. We want to make sure that we’re thinking about contingencies [for water] as we move forward...”
$7.73 million city investment for water wells Nos. 7 and 8
SAM YAGER III, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF SAM YAGER INC., DEVELOPER OF AUDUBON
SOURCE: CITY OF MAGNOLIA/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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