CHANDLER — A Texas Engineering Extension Service community profile of Chandler offers no new insight into the city, but it does confirm what officials here have been saying: that their area is primed for new development as Tyler grows and the Brownsboro Independent School District expands.

“It’s kind of in a form now where we can take it and add other information,” city administrator Jim Moffeit said. “It generated some market analysis and will be available on the Internet. It will be a tool to recruit businesses.”

Here are a few highlights from the published report:

*More than 17,000 vehicles travel through Chandler each day, giving city businesses “maximum exposure,” particularly on State Highway 31.

•To address a growing population, Chandler is installing its fifth water well that’s projected to produce 300 gallons per minute.

•More than 95 percent of senior students in 2008 graduated from Brownsboro ISD or received their GEDs. The rate exceeds the state’s average of 80 percent.

•“A number of building sites” are available in the city limits. Their sizes range in a third of an acre to nine acres.

•Recreational opportunities on Lake Palestine and at Winchester Park continue to draw visitors and Chandler residents.

•East Texas Medical Center and Trinity Mother Frances Medical Center provide basic care and physical therapy.

•SilverLeaf at Chandler, a government-subsidized apartment community for seniors on fixed incomes, is scheduled to open this year — enhancing the city’s housing market.

•The U.S. Census cites an estimated population of 2,631 in 2008, up from 1,971 in 2000. The Texas Development Water Board “estimates a lower population count for Chandler than the U.S. Census. However, this source projects growth in Chandler over the next (50) years.”

The state board, the TEEX report says, projects Chandler will add about 300 residents each decade, with Henderson County gaining about 15,000 people for the same period. For 2010, it shows Chandler with a population of 2,385.

Moffeit dismissed that number.

The TEEX report “talks a lot about population, growth potential, and infrastructure,” he said. I don’t agree with some of the population numbers they use from the Texas Water Board. They use those because its one of the few agencies that projects populations, but if you go back and look at census estimates for 2008, we were way ahead of what they say we are anyway.

“In 2008, it was 2,631. But the water board says in 2010 we will be 2,385. Based on the water meters we have, we should be well over 3,000 when the census is counted.”

•Almost 17 percent of Chandler’s working residents work in health-care or social assistance. About 12 percent work in retail.

•The largest employer is Chandler Nursing Center, with 95 workers, followed by Brookshire’s with 77, Chandler Elementary School with 47, and Kidd Jones Oil Company with 44.

•Employees in the East Texas Workforce Development Area received a median income of $26,808.

“Chandler is an inviting, delightful community steeped with alluring quality of-life characteristics,” the TEEX report says. “These characteristics, along with the growth and development in and around Chandler, offer many opportunities for individuals wanting to start-up or for those businesses wanting to expand or relocate.”

Growth in Smith and Henderson Counties over the next 30 years is expected to be substantial, with the projected population in Henderson County by 2010 at more than 81,300. By 2020, it is expected to be over 90,000 and, by 2030, the population is projected to reach 100,000.

Much of that growth will happen west and south of Tyler and will include Chandler.

Visit teex.org and chandlertx. com.