Archives > Flower Mound Leader > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Bowen wants balanced tax base
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
Joy Bowen said she is running for Place 1 on the Flower Mound Town Council to bring an outside perspective to the table.
One of those perspectives focuses on economic development and the balance she says the town needs in building its tax base.
“In my opinion, our town cannot afford to continue to give away our commercial tax base potential in exchange for high density zoning that will put severe stress on our infrastructure and ultimately diminish our quality of life,” said Bowen, who is running against Mike Walker in the May 11 election. Incumbent Kendra Stephenson announced Monday she will not seek re-election. “I represent a balanced approach to our growing town and feel strongly that we need to pursue true economic development to help maintain our unique character and quality of life. While we are a great place for business and residential growth – and growth is inevitable – it needs to be balanced.”
While economic development is a focal point of Bowen’s campaign, she said one reason she chose to run is because of Lewisville ISD’s plans to rezone the Flower Mound High School feeder schools.
When asked why she chose to run for the council instead of LISD, she said the council’s decisions have led to the rezoning.
"People say that the issue is rezoning," said Bowen, a nine-year Flower Mound resident. "But I feel like that's a symptom of an underlying issue. I've done the research, and I don't like what I see. This is about the council dismantling SMARTGrowth and changing the master plan."
In December, the council passed an amendment to require formal communication with LISD when future developments are coming. But the section no longer required a residential project to be denied because the impacted school is at capacity.
LISD and council members denied that the amendment and the rezoning are related.
Still, Bowen said she fears SMARTGrowth is being changed too much and that the schools are being impacted.
"LISD has the capacity. They don't need to immediately rezone," Bowen said. "Now that [the schools component of] SMARTGrowth is off the table, we have really lost our power to work with LISD because now the town doesn't have to take capacity into consideration when it approves a development.
"I believe that SMARTGrowth and the master plan are the road maps for us," Bowen said. "The moment we mess with that, it really puts our infrastructure in jeopardy."
In addition, Bowen said she wants to protect the town’s conservation districts and the town’s oil and gas ordinances.
“If we don’t follow a well-thought out road map, our town will end up on a road to nowhere,” Bowen said.
Bowen said she also wants to bring more community involvement to the town.
Bowen is a graduate from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a B.A. in psychology. Her previous experience includes serving as a deputy director for Gov. Pete Wilson of California (1996) and a representative for deputy mayor of the city of San Diego (1997).
For the past 10 years, she has dedicated her life to family ministry and is a consultant and coach to hundreds of church leaders in family ministry through her work with Orange, a nonprofit, parachurch organization.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
