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LOCAL Small Town Spotlight: Vinton/Westway by: Tawny Davis

Posted: Jul 19, 2023 / 11:19 AM MDT

Updated: Jul 19, 2023 / 05:28 PM MDT

VINTON, Texas (KTSM) – The Village of Vinton was established in 1961 and has hundreds of families that have called it their home. However, the lack of water and sewer infrastructure has plagued the community, forcing them to go to great lengths in order to have clean water available.

Daniel Bueno, the community and economic development coordinator, said the new water system has been completed, and the sewage system is about to begin.

“We’re very proud to announce that we’re done with the water residential portion of it, and we’re commencing sewer connections for our residential sector on July 25 of this month,” said Bueno Homeowners like Javier Jomez are grateful for the new system and access to clean water.

“Drinking water, it’s a lot better drinking water also for cooking because I mean the old water, I never cooked with it, and I never drank it now right now were drinking water, you know we’re being able to cook with it,” said Jomez.

More growth for the Village of Vinton is already underway in Vinton. Tropicana Homes will add 48 apartment units that will be completed in August, and 39 homes will begin construction in the same month. President of Tropicana Homes, Bobby Bowling, said the company wanted to be the first to add to Vinton after seeing no one else was.

“There are no impact fees out here, and the elected officials and the city, in general, is very pro-development and pro-growth; they want to see growth and development in their community,” said Bowling.

According to Village of Vinton administrator Andrea Carrillo, this growth is not just for the residents but for the village economy.

“We expect more businesses to come, our businesses to stay and be able to grow, so that also brings work opportunities as well for our communities and our families to come in,” said Carrillo.

It does not end there; the village also reached out to Tropicana to build a new park for residents after construction was delayed for several years. “Because the village of Vinton has been so good to work with, and so we donated much of the construction and materials to build the parking lot and the infrastructure and everything that goes along with the park,” said Bowling.

While this is not the first park to be built in Vinton, it will play a significant role in an underserved community.

“We’re really excited because it’s the first park that would actually serve the south side of our community, so they’ll have a park closer to residential areas as well as closer to the school,” said Carrillo. “We want to save the look of the Village of Vinton of just being a pass by the community. We want to be a community where people want to live, want to stay, and enjoy their free time.”

https://www.ktsm.com/local/small-town-spotlight-vinton-westway/