• Housing subdivision could include 200 homes. Anticipated to affect Lower Valley schools.

Thayne Mayor Devin Simpson reports the coming year will be full planning for a new housing subdivision, and safety improvements will be added to the canal bank that includes the town’s sign and flag poles.

“2024 is going to be an exciting year for us,” Mayor Simpson said. “We have a lot on the table and a lot of questions to answer.”

He continued, “One of those questions is a large subdivision,” he said. “They are ironing out the details of how they will meet the standards of our town,” the mayor explained. “We anticipate construction will take place after it is finalized this year.”

Simpson said it will be an important addition to the town and should have an effect on the growth of the schools.

“That is significant to the town of Thayne because it is 113 acres, and it has the potential for a lot of new homes,” he said. “The property is already in the town, just behind and north of Family Dollar. It has the potential to bring in 200 homes to the town of Thayne. This is very significant to the town of Thayne.”

Simpson said it’s a complicated process to bring in a housing project of this size, so they have an engineer helping with the plans.

“I’ve done this before, and it is more of a process than I would have ever imagined. Their first report on this was 800 pages long. It’s a lot to read through and a lot to handle,” he explained. “We have a great engineer. Robert Hood is our engineer with Sunrise Engineering. He is a tremendous help. We lean on him a lot.”

The mayor said all precautions will be taken to ensure the community infrastructure is adequate to accommodate the growth.

We don’t want to put the burden back on the current residents of the town. They have lived here a long time. They don’t need to subsidize these new developments,” he emphasized. “We have to make sure our system can handle it and if it can’t handle it, what do the developers need to do to handle that growth.”

The mayor acknowledged a project of this size will affect the two Lower Valley elementary schools.

“It changes the elementary schools in the Lower Valley, in Thayne and Etna. We are talking 200-plus potential families and if you start doing some simple math of four people per-household that’s 800 potential residents for the town of Thayne. You would assume a good majority would be youth that would go to our schools here.”

Additional projects in the coming year include safety improvement on the main highway coming through Thayne.

“Projects include the big canal across from Silver Star. As a council we decided there is a little safety hazard there,” he noted. “We intend to build a retaining wall that will stabilize the structure and a fence there. You will still be able to see the beautiful structure there, but it there will be a safety measure.”

In addition, a beautification project is planned on the south end of the canal, next to Heap Drive across from Maverik.

“We have some artwork coming; it’s a big star with a red heart in the middle of it. It will be about 7-ft. tall by 7-ft. wide.

In addition, the town will put a up a digital sign on the south side of Heap Drive for Town of Thayne announcements.

The mayor commended the work of a member of the council for continuing to grow the community and regional recreation program. “We have a tremendous rec program and I credit that to Councilman Joe Heward. He has taken that on and grown that tremendously,” Mayor Simpson said.

As the recreation program expands, irrigation improvements are planned for the large field behind the Thayne Community Center.

“And that leads me into our second project. We have our big football field. It’s a soccer field or a football field depending on who you ask. We have the old football lights from the high school. The high school was just going to throw them away, but they allowed us to repropose them. We were able to put them up this past year and the Lincoln County Recreation Board helped us get a big score board,” the mayor explained. “Through the effort of Joe Heward, we have our score board up and we have lights on.”

Improvements there also include water maintenance for the field. An irrigation system will replace sprinkler pipes that have to be moved regularly.

“Right now, it’s the old three-inch handline that has to be moved every 12-hours and my kids no longer want to do that, he said with a laugh. “They get that assignment on the weekends. We want to make sure that we have a field that is safe and is beautiful for our rec program which is just huge here in the town of Thayne. “

Commercial construction is planned on the south end of town.

“As the town is growing and Dr. Mark Johnson with Riverside Dental will build on the south side of town across from NAPA,” Simpson reported. “We’re always looking to grow our commercial area. I have seen the rough plans and it’s going to be beautiful and he’s going to do a nice job. We are excited for the growth on that side of town.”