05-C Lake Crook Study - Laserfiche WebLink

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Cit~ of Paris Stud~ of Lake Crook March, 2001 4.0.4 Lot Absorption. A city only has a certain capacity to absorb newly created lots for residential development. This absorption rate is determined by population growth, job creation, decline of existing housing, direction of growth, marketing, and the building capacity of the community's several home builders. Interest rates, cost of building materials and even natural disasters in Florida will affect how fast homes can be built in Paris, Texas. Following the east coast hurricanes of the past few years, for example, the dry wall industry could not produce enough sheetrock to meet demand and many builders were put on allocations. Due to a lack of production, face brick is becoming a long-lead item, taking months to deliver to ajobsite. The point is this. Just producing lots will not attract people to Paris. The development of lots will have to be accompanied by a wide-spread and effective advertising campaign directed primarily at prospective buyers from outside Paris coupled with an economic development campaign to provide these people with jobs. With 1,180 new lots eventually on-line under an optimal Option 3, there will need to be approximately 1,000 to 2,000 new jobs created. Table of Survey Results for Paris Home Builders (1) How many homes will you likely complete in 6 50 6 5 20017 Is this more or less than last year? Less More Same New To what price market do you try to build? $150K $65K $140K $70K Do you favor or oppose the sale of public land Favor Favor Favor Favor at Lake Crook for residential development? (1) Of the six home builders listed in the Paris Yellow Pages, one does not build in Lamar County and one did not answer the survey. The above table covers the majority of home builders who build in Paris. (Some do not build in the city but only in the county.) What the table shows clearly is that absorption of lots in Paris including those in subdivisions and those fill-in lots through out the city, with the builders Paris has now is only about 60 to 70 lots per year. If extrapolated then, just the north shore development under Option 3 would provide the equivalent of seven to eight years inventory if EVERY house in Paris was built at Lake Crook. Reading between the lines, builders likely favor sale of public land at Lake Crook because it a) provides another attractive home site for their customers, b) new subdivisions tend to provide impetus to the housing market, and c) it provides competition among the lot developers which can lower the price of lots citywide. Another point needs to be made. If the development cost of the lots in Option 3, for example, Page 39 of 45