COLLINSVILLE, Okla. — Collinsville’s on the up and up, with the latest U.S. Census data shows Collinsville as the fastest-growing city in Tulsa County.
2 News Oklahoma listened to area residents about preserving the small-town feel and brought their concerns to city leaders.
“My kids have always called it [our backyard] ‘the Prairie’ when they come out 'cause we've liked having cows and chickens behind us,” resident Tami Losoncy told 2 News. “Now it's getting built up.”
As of July 1, 2024, 9,757 people call Collinsville home — 4.5% more than the year prior — and 22.7% more than in 2020. That makes Collinsville the fastest-growing city in Tulsa County.
But that’s too fast for some residents 2 News listened to.
Three years ago, Charlotte Farr moved from Owasso to a neighborhood near 146th and Sheridan in Collinsville after her youngest child finished high school. She wanted to downsize and find some peace and quiet.
“We just wanted out of— 'cause Owasso is growing so large,” she said. “We love it out here. It's nice and quiet, and I can raise a garden.”
Losoncy lived in the same Owasso neighborhood as Farr and moved within a week of her to this Collinsville neighborhood. We caught up with Losoncy as she stopped by Farr’s house and checked in on her friend’s garden.
Losoncy and her husband “wanted to have more of a country feel and a small-town feel. And we found this, and we loved it.”
However, like Farr, Losoncy told us she knew it would eventually get built up around them.
Farr told us new houses are “popping up right and left and right, out back here,” pointing to two homes under construction next door.
She said the berm blocking the view from her backyard wasn’t here when she built her home. It was an open field, but now streets crisscross what will eventually become the latest subdivision in the area.
When we asked her how she felt about more people moving in, she replied, “I may be moving again.”
“I picked this for what I had” when she originally bought it, she added. “I don't wanna be looking at a lot of houses.”
WATCH: Time-lapse of growth in Collinsville
Losoncy had similar thoughts, saying, “My husband and I probably will try to stay in Collinsville, but maybe get five acres” in an area with “a little less housing” that’s “a little bit more rural.”
We asked her if she thought Collinsville was her “forever hometown,” and she responded, “Probably. If we can find the right property, we'll probably stay.”
Despite their worries about encroaching development, Farr said, “I mean, I love it in Collinsville. It still has that — you know — that small, hometown feel.”
She added: “So, [we’ll] may be looking around here, just [where there are] less houses.”
We brought the concerns of Farr, Losoncy, and other residents to local leaders.
City manager Chuck Rass — who moved to Collinsville one year ago — told 2 News it's "a legitimate concern and you gotta navigate that."
"We wanna hold onto our roots but still grow and rise," he added. "If you don't embrace growth, then you're condemning yourself to death."
Collinsville Chamber of Commerce Board President Ed Phillips is a fifth-generation resident. Even though he told 2 News that 4,000 homes are projected to be built in the next four years, Phillips doesn't think that small-town feeling is going away.
"We all still know everybody here in town," he emphasized, "and it's a very, very homey feel."
Phillips also mentioned: "A lot of people that have moved in still have their old habits of shopping in Owasso, and I want to encourage them to pull into Collinsville and get to know our retailers and our businesses here locally."
"That is where the hometown feel is," he added. "They just gotta get in and get to know a lot of our business owners."
Rass said, "I'm excited to see how Collinsville can be unique and one of those cities that grows without losing their identity."
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