CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Corpus Christi is expanding resources and utilities to the London area. 141 acres of land in London will be developed into a subdivision within the next ten years. The project will undergo development that includes hundreds of homes and infrastructure improvements.
Councilmember of district 3, Roland Barrera spoke with 3NEWS and said, this is a great opportunity to expand resources and utilities to those who live in London.
"Underground utilities, they wouldn't require a septic system, they would have sidewalks, have streets that would be maintained, in addition they would have garbage pickup," Barrera said.
However, residents like James Maddalone wants the city to consider the voices of the people who live within Nueces county, which includes those who live in the London area.
"I think most residents want to know is as we start to pay our taxes in, what do we receive in return? There should be an exchange and a healthy exchange for fees of service."
Maddalone wants an open dialogue with the city of Corpus Christi. He told 3NEWS, "I'm certain that they would have plans to put in a fire station and a police station, right? And I think that would need to be said, sooner than later. If we have thousands of homes being built out here, how far is the closest fire station, and police station?"
Barrera explained, "So those taxes go to public safety, police and fire, once again, access to the ambulance service. Which typically the ambulance service would go to an emergency service district."
With this being the third recent development in the London area, Maddalone is concerned about London's identity being lost.
"We want to maintain the London community feel."
Which Maddalone describes as a suburb.
"People that have chosen to live out here such as my family and I, is that we wanted to be outside of the city, but close to the city, we wanted more of that country feel."
One large selling point for the annexation of the London area is its schools.
"All those homes and all those developments will be able to bring more tax dollars to the school district, and so that puts more money into the system for them," Barrera said.
Maddalone explained, "Our concern is that as the city is annexing new areas out here, it's taxing the school, it's making the school grow much faster than it was ever prepared for."
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