Cagle talks city planning, what Killeen is trying to accomplish for the future

Killeen Daily Herald
By Kevin Limiti | Herald
September 3, 2023

For years, Killeen’s new home-building development has trended toward affordable houses for first-time home buyers, even as Killeen was rated as having one of the most affordable housing markets in the country.

But Killeen City Manager Kent Cagle explained in an interview with the Herald Friday that this might not necessarily be entirely a good thing, even if having affordable homes is beneficial.

“You don’t want to be against first-time home buyers,” Cagle explained. “We’ve been recognized naturally as having the most affordable market in the country for home buyers. The problem becomes when your entire market is made up of first-time home buyers. You need some diversity.”

Which is something he said that some residents of Killeen had mentioned when the city spoke to them during the process of compiling the city’s comprehensive plan a couple of years ago..

“Everything looked the same,” he said, paraphrasing what residents told the city. “They wanted more diversity. And more amenities, more parks, more green space, more choices.”

He said this is why the architectural standards ordinance, recently debated at City Council meetings, was trying to formulate itself around.

“We listened,” Cagle said.

He said that was what the city was trying to do with its comprehensive plan which the firm Verdunity compiled. The plan was approved by the City Council in August 2022 for more than $300,000 — to encourage diversity and make sure even the lowest priced neighborhoods had quality design.

“That is every bit as important as getting diversity in price range,” Cagle said. “Whether it’s the lowest price subdivision or the highest price, they’re well designed with livability in mind as opposed to just the maximum number of lots per acre.”

He said tax appreciation has been historically lower in Killeen compared to the rest of the state, but there have been recent changes in the market over the last couple of years.

“The lowest valued properties are the ones that increase the most,” Cagle said. “There’s only so much room in the high end ... The lowest price market has seen the largest appreciation.”

He said that the city of Killeen is still catching up to the market.

“We’re still the most affordable in the state, but like everybody else, there has been some significant increases,” Cagle said.

He also reflected on some of the challenges officials had when it came to city planning.

“The council is in a tough position because in a public entity you have so many types of customers,” Cagle said. “We have the end users, the home buyers, the taxpayers; you’ve got developers, you got home builders, you got commercial interest. They’re all our customers and investors. And it’s a difficult thing to balance all those interests when they have different priorities.”

Looking toward the future, Cagle said he was optimistic about where the city was heading in spite of some of the challenges.

“I think we’re heading in a good direction,” he said.