Our Town: Population explosion in Wolfforth

WOLFFORTH, Texas (KJTV) - There are currently 6,500 residents in Wolfforth. That number is expected to more than double in the next 10 years.

“There’s no better place to be than the city of Wolfforth,” said Terri Robinette, Wolfforth Director of Planning and Community Development.

She has good reason to say that. As she stands in front of the ever-changing residential growth map, Terri explains this huge increase as a huge plus for her city.

“It’s an exciting time to be part of the city,” she said. Of course, growth comes with challenges, but I think our attitude here in Wolfforth is that our growth we have is a blessing, and so we take those challenges. We deal with them as we need to, and we’re pushing forward.”

One way to gauge that growth is to look at the number of building permits being issued.

“In a typical year, we might have averaged 50 to 75 single-family home permits a year,” she said. “We’ve done that in some months over the last 18 months. We have around 400 active building permits right now, which is unheard of.”

Jordan Wheatley is a developer, a partner in the Overlook Land Group. We asked him where all these people are coming from.

“My funny answer is ‘we don’t care,’” he said. “We want them to come, but the other answer is, the real answer is, I think the outer towns are coming towards Lubbock. They are unfortunately seeing a decline. They’re coming here for Tech, they’re coming here for LCU, they’re coming here for medical, restaurants, hotels, ballgames.”

To grow at this rate, everyone has to work together to make it happen. Wheatley says that starts at City Hall.

“We know that they want us here. They want our growth. At Wolfforth, the city hall is very easy to deal with. That’s one thing that’s a major plus for us,” he said.

“With the increase in population, we have infrastructure needs,” Robinette said. “Water, sewer, and then we have first responder needs. Fire, police, EMS, those kinds of things. And so, yes. With that increase in population, those are the challenges that we face.”

Wheatley says, “People want to run to a store of value, what they can put their hands on. And, that’s a house.”

And there’s going to be a lot more of those houses in Wolfforth.

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