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Keller board expands peer-city outreach to find ideas for parks, mixed-use and small-business supports
Summary
Board members reported outreach to suburban peer cities (including Newton, Carmel and Samamish) to gather practices on parks, mixed-use development, festivals and business-support portals; members will compile contacts and share resources in a common folder.
KELLER, Texas — Members of the Keller Economic Development Board said they are compiling a list of peer cities outside Texas to study how other suburbs attract residents and businesses, with a focus on parks, mixed-use corridors, marketing and small-business supports.
Board members described recent conversations and website reviews of cities including Carmel, Indiana; Franklin, Tennessee; Newton, Massachusetts; Leawood, Kansas; and Samamish, Washington. The goal is to identify replicable tactics for community events, village- or corridor-focused mixed-use development, and online business-facing resources.
One board member said she narrowed a list to about 25 cities outside Texas, focusing on suburbs of major metropolitan areas with descriptors such as “excellent schools,” “safety” and a family orientation. She offered to place peer-city contacts in a shared Google Drive for board members doing individual research and to make introductory calls to city economic-development staff or mayoral offices on behalf of the board.
“I've got a list of more that I’m going through and getting contact names for,” the board member said. “If you want me to open the door to make a call to somebody from the city council or the mayor's office, just so it's kind of peer to peer … I’ve found that … responsiveness tends to be a little bit better.”
A board member reported substantive conversations with Newton, Massachusetts, describing its village-centered structure, transit access, high housing costs and efforts to encourage mixed-use development. The Newton report included challenges: fractured village priorities, difficulty changing zoning and limits on state grant eligibility tied to not having a single downtown.
Representatives also summarized Samamish, Washington, noting a 20-year infrastructure plan revisited annually, strong emphasis on parks and green space, early incorporation of fiber and tech infrastructure, and a robust “how to do business” portal linking to state and federal resources.
Board members proposed building a live shared folder to collect research, website links and contacts and suggested continuing the peer outreach as an ongoing board activity. Staff said they will confirm a shared Google Drive and circulate materials already collected.
The benchmarking work is framed as an informational effort; board members said they would combine the peer-city findings with local priorities — for example, creating village- or corridor-based events, promoting walkable town-center nodes, and improving business-facing website content — and report back with concrete recommendations.
