My Vision for our Future

Midlothian is a great city with a lot of fine folks.  But, we're headed down the wrong road and we need to change directions.

History is a great teacher, so let's look at our neighbor to the north, Cedar Hill.

According to NCTCOG*, in the 1970 census, their population was 2,610 compared to Midlothian's 2,322 -- only 288 more people than us.  By the 1990 census, their 19,998 total dwarfed our 5,040 by almost 4 to 1.  In 2009, their estimated total was 45,600, compared to our 16,250, dropping to about 3 to 1.  We are catching up.

The graph shows Cedar Hill's growth spurt started in the 80's, while Midlothian started around 2000.  The growth rate for 2008 to 2009 for Cedar Hill was a mere 1.56%, while Midlothian grew 11.68%, almost 7 1/2 times as fast.  Our county seat grew at a modest 5.65%.  It has been estimated that Midlothian's population will exceed that of Waxahachie within a few decades.

This clearly shows Midlothian is having a major growth spurt, similar to Cedar Hill, but about 20 years later.  How we manage that growth will determine our future, and we can learn from Cedar Hill's mistakes.

What happened in Cedar Hill?

While the initial growth of Cedar Hill was caused in part by social conditions, what is important is how they reacted to and managed that growth.

Similar to our city council today, the majority of the Cedar Hill city council was not friendly to growth.  Councilman Jim Cate once said, "I don't want to see the Colonel or the King in Cedar Hill."  (They now have a KFC, but still no Burger King.)  Their primary stores were Minyard's and Kroger.  Their main source of tax revenue -- and what kept the city alive -- was the property tax on the television towers.**)

Some knew the city had to grow or die ... it's difficult for a city not to change at all.  The Hillcrest Baptist Church fiasco was the breaking point.  In the mid 1990's, the HBC wanted to move onto Highway 67 where the Target is now, but the city wouldn't change the zoning to allow it.  The church moved to it's current location on Pleasant Run, but there were many upset church members who felt their religious rights were violated.

The upset HBC members joined with the Cedar Hill citizens who wanted managed growth, and they set out to replace 6 of the 7 council members during a 3 year period (Mayor Rob Franke was not targeted, for other reasons).  They replaced 5 of the 6;  the 6th kept his position by only 14 votes.  It was a new day in Cedar Hill.

The new council was business-friendly, attracting businesses to newly developing shopping centers, including the Target location on 67 and the multiple centers on 1382 that host an array of up-scale stores, restaurants, and even a box-store.  They allowed the box store only after the store agreed to design a more attractive store.  This new design was dubbed "the Cedar Hill," and has been used for some of their other new stores.  Compare the Cedar Hill store to the old one in Duncanville and you'll see major differences.

This provided commercial areas that were separated from housing, allowed businesses to move in without a lot of red tape, enticed restaurants, and maintained the current life style of the residential areas.  In short, instead of a few large manufacturing facilities, they opted for retail shopping and restaurants to better serve the community and attract tourism.

Cedar Hill is now a shopper's paradise, attracting shoppers from great distances.  A survey determined that over half the checks written to these businesses were from outside of Cedar Hill.  The plan to bring in outside revenue was a huge success.

Unfortunately, the city council changed hands again, and instead of using the newly acquired sales tax revenue to lower the tax rate, they built monuments to themselves, such as the new city hall.  Their internal slogan:  "A premier city has to have a premier budget."

How does this relate to Midlothian?

Midlothian must change it's unfriendly attitude to businesses.  We are going to continue to grow, and if we remain a "bedroom community," our taxes will eat us alive.  When the 287 bypass came to Midlothian, the mayor praised its arrival as a benefit to the city, even though many Midlothian businesses were destroyed or moved away.  Compare the shopping in Midlothian to Cedar Hill, Waxahachie, or Mansfield.  It's pathetic.  Not only is this inconvenient for shoppers, but it keeps the property tax rate high -- there are few businesses to help take the load.

It's time to establish commercial areas, make it easy for retail businesses to come here, and then encourage them to grow.  While manufacturing increases the property tax base, we need retail to come so we have the added benefit of sales tax revenue.

Sales tax revenue not only comes from us, but brings in money from outside via tourism.  Currently, we're helping to pay taxes in our surrounding cities by shopping there.  Let's keep our sales tax dollars in Midlothian, and get residents in the other cities to shop in Midlothian for a change.

When the sales tax money comes in, let's pay down the debt and lower the property tax until it is eliminated.  This will maintain our country life style, providing superb shopping, and lower our tax bill.

It'll be like Midlothian used to be ... only better.

* Stats provided by North Central Texas Council Of Governments, et. al.

**  Towers are located in Cedar Hill because it is the highest point between the Red River and the Gulf of Mexico, with a 400' rise from Dallas ... 830' vs. 430' ... in about 20 miles.  (Midlothian is at 755' above sea level.)  To see how steep the Dallas to Cedar Hill rise is, if you started at sea level and drove at the same incline, it would take only 264 miles to be a mile high (same as Denver) --  the same distance as from Waxahachie to Childress.

Return to