Castle Hills is on its way to becoming part of the city of Lewisville.
Since 1996, Castle Hills has been regarded as a community, a 2,900-acre master-planned, and mixed-use community just to the east of Lewisville along State Highway 121. The decision to annex the community into Lewisville has been discussed for decades.
The Lewisville City Council will have public hearings on the annexation at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 and 6 p.m. Nov. 8 at City Hall, 151 W. Church St.
If all goes as expected, Castle Hills will become a part of Lewisville at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 16.
Castle Hills is within Lewisville’s extra-territorial jurisdiction. The community is managed by the Denton County Fresh Water Supply District 1-A and divided into seven districts that each have an elected board of directors to set policies and approve budgets and tax rates.
“It’s in my view a net benefit to Lewisville, a net benefit to the residents of Castle Hills and a net benefit to Bright Realty,” Chris Bright, CEO of Bright Realty, which is a subsidiary of Bright Industries, told Community Impact Newspaper.
Upon annexation, the Castle Hills community will have access to several municipal services, including fire and police protection, traffic patrols, health inspections, animal control services, and public transit. Castle Hills will also be added to Lewisville’s maintenance schedule as streets, sidewalks, and other infrastructures need replacing.
Lewisville will take ownership of 83 separate parcels of parkland totaling more than 44 acres within Castle Hills.
Lewisville will also gain another 18,000 residents overnight in addition to more than $3 billion in property value, Lewisville city manager Donna Barron told Community Impact.
According to Realtor.com, the median home price in Castle Hills was $636,000 in September. Lewisville’s median home price was $363,000.
The city of Lewisville created a resources page on its website to increase engagement with its future residents. The page provides copies of monthly newsletters, meeting documents, and documents related to annexation.
Not to be confused with a Bexar County city by the same name, Castle Hills is anchored by two large mixed-use communities — The Realm at Castle Hills and Crown Centre at Castle Hills. If you drive through SH121 heading west, the area looks like any other suburb.
Residents have had mixed reactions to the annexation.
“The fate of the community really rests on this annexation,” Castle Hills resident Mike Kotel told Community Impact. “There are just so many things we can’t do ourselves.”
Resident Theresa Frederick told Community Impact that she liked the idea of more traffic control.
“I see people run our stop signs a lot,” she said.
