Kelly best as Colleyville looks to future, not past

Colleyville cannot afford to go back to 1992 thinking.

Back then, leaders imagined the city as an isolated enclave of luxury homes, with the accompanying small neighborhood shops.

The cost of city services would be covered by rising home sales and ever-higher appraisals. As long as quality stayed high, residents would gladly pay most city expenses.

That math doesn’t work anymore, if it ever did.

Since that era, Texas laws have limited how much cities can depend on homeowners. Every city now looks to commercial development for revenue, and Colleyville is finally catching up.

In 11 years as mayor, David Kelly, a financial adviser, has led Colleyville’s strongest success.

Thanks in part to a new Whole Foods Market and more than 30 new businesses this year alone, the city is on its way to a $6 million sales tax haul.

Kelly wants the city to promote economic growth while maintaining the city’s small-town atmosphere. He said more retail revenue is needed to sustain the city’s aging country lanes and replace a worn-out sewer system.

Challenger Richard Newton, an engineer, was first elected to City Council in 1989 and as mayor in 1992, serving off-and-on until a 2003 defeat.

Newton wants stricter enforcement of the city’s long-standing rule requiring about a half-acre lot for each home, country-style. He opposes developments that include smaller lots and argues that expensive homes support business growth.

Newton’s message sounds like what he said in the 1990s, when he complained that Colleyville was “ ‘open for business, and I think we are too open for business.’ ”

Kelly’s way is working.

The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends David Kelly for mayor of Colleyville.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Kelly best as Colleyville looks to future, not past."