US Census forms arrive in mailboxes this week March 15 - 19. The form is 10 questions long and takes 10 minutes to fill out. US Census data will be used to apportion congressional seats to states and help distribute 400 billion dollars in federal funds. For more information, please visit the US Cenus website at the link below. 2010.census.gov

Experience Midlothian Community Expo will be held THIS Saturday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Midlothian Conference Center. Admission is FREE.

More than 80 businesses, exhibiting their products and services and organizations to the community – come see what Midlothian has to offer you!

Hosted by Midlothian Chamber of Commerce, presenting sponsor Oncor Electric Delivery

Event Sponsors Gerdau Ameristeel, Razor Financial Services, Sherwin-Williams,

Gold Sponsor Citizens National Bank.

For more information, please visit the Chamber of Commerce website at the link below. 2010 Expo

The annual community wide Easter Egg Hunt will be held Saturday, March 27th at 10:00 a.m. in Kimmel Park with activities for children age 1 month to 10 years. The event is once again sponsored by the Midlothian Downtown Business Association. The business community can help by donating the following:

- Plastic eggs (if filled with candy the candy must be individually wrapped!)
- Monetary (to use to buy eggs or candy)
- Candy (individually wrapped candy that can be stuffed into eggs)

All donations can be dropped off at Technical Support or Kyle & Associates, both located at 411 North 8th Street.

Everyone is invited to hop on down to Kimmel Park with their Easter basket and have some fun!
Event Flyer

Repulican Primary Run-off Election information is now available. Please visit the Ellis County website for details. Ellis County Website

All Texas residents who replace an old appliance with a new energy efficient qualifying appliance from April 16 to April 25 will receive a mail-in rebate. All old appliances must be disposed of properly and if you recycle the old appliance you will receive an additional $75 rebate. More information is available on the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) website. SECO Website

Don Hastings, City Manager, was the invited guest speaker at the Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Midlothian Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. He spoke about development trends in Midlothian and "Building Our Community's Competitive Edge". A copy of his presentation may be viewed at the link below. Presentation

The Larkin Newton Cabin was constructed in the mid nineteenth century with a completion date of approximately 1848. Over the years, the ownership of the cabin changed many times. In 1991 efforts began to obtain the cabin for the community. Negotiations were successful and in January of 1992, the cabin was moved to the downtown Midlothian area where it was restored and became the centerpiece for the then new Heritage Park. Since the restoration was completed in 1992 no repairs have been made to the cabin and after 18 years some repairs are needed. There are currently loose and damaged shingles, logs with dry rot, broken chinking between logs and a damaged porch post. The funding for the original restoration was raised by selling personalized brick pavers that were placed in the pathways around the cabin. The City is once again selling the personalized brick pavers in order to fund the needed repairs to the cabin. This is where you can help! Purchase brick pavers for yourself, your children or your grandchildren. If you already have brick pavers in Heritage Park monetary donations are also accepted. Become a part of history and help save the Larkin Newton Log Cabin. Log Cabin Handout

The Momentum Youth Track Club is a competitive track program with divisions for children age 6 to 18. The registration fee is $150 per athlete with a $5 discount for multiple siblings after the registration of the first sibling. The club objectives are to challenge our youth through track and field and to strive for excellence in every life endeavor; teach fundamental track and field principles that will equip youth athletes with the skills to compete on a national level; develop the minds and bodies for future leadership, athletic training and discipline; and, develop a spirit of competitiveness that will foster a desire to always strive for excellence. For more information contact club President, Arlene Sutton at 972-825-7961 or visit the club website at the link below. MYTC Website

The City of Midlothian may now be the first community in North Texas to waive its impact fees as a means of jumpstarting its housing market. At its January 12th meeting, the Midlothian City Council approved an ordinance to temporarily suspend its residential impact fee program, giving a green light to lower fees that will last throughout 2010. The program is effective immediately.

Impact fees in Midlothian can range as high as $5,209 per new home, depending on location. The new ordinance will zero out fees for twelve months for platted lots within existing subdivisions. According to City Manager Don Hastings, the City has about 700 such infill lots that would qualify for the program.

“These are obviously difficult times for everyone,” said Council member Bill Houston, who worked alongside a community stakeholder group to formulate the program. “This recession has made the cost margins for homebuilding razor-thin. The temporary suspension of impact fees will give home builders some needed breathing room. That will hopefully result in more new homes being built here rather than somewhere else in the region.”

Impact fees are used by many but not all Texas communities to ensure that certain costs of growth are borne by future residents who can ‘opt in’ to the fees through their home purchase, rather than saddling existing taxpayers with the inevitable costs of growth. By State law, impact fee revenue can only be used to pay for capital improvements needed by new growth, such as water, sewer and roadway facilities.

When they were adopted in 2003, Midlothian’s impact fees were among the highest in the DFW region, with only Flower Mound and certain Lewisville fees being higher. Since then, many North Texas cities have caught up, making Midlothian’s current fees fairly average for the region. Prior to the current recession, Midlothian added as many as 425 homes per year. That peak fell to only 108 new homes in 2009.

Council member Steve Massey, who helped spearhead the program along with Mr. Houston, feels that incentivizing growth during a severe recession only makes good business sense. “Every businessman faces a time when you need to draw on your savings to promote your business, to discount your prices, to make yourself more attractive to the market. What we’re doing here is not a whole lot different.”

Hastings said the issue of waiving impact fees was a difficult one. “Our Council members know how important impact fees are to good growth management. But they also realize that a certain amount of quality growth is healthy and desirable. This incentive, along with streamlining improvements we’re making, should make Midlothian more competitive in attracting quality housing growth”

Mayor Boyce Whatley said that the City will spend considerable effort to monitor the program’s success, using metrics based on market share and seasonally-adjusted historical building rates. “Obviously no one has a crystal ball, but we’re hoping to see a nice bump in our housing starts that will ripple out into our broader economy.”

More information about Midlothian’s impact fee incentives is available on the City’s website or by calling City Hall at 972-775-7195.

Impact Fees on Website