A remote-control airplane buzzes overhead at Hawks Field on Craft Road in east-central DeSoto County as Morrow, a North Carolina transplant, talks about plans to build 800 to 1,000 homes on about 500 acres.

As far as the eye can see, Morrow's Hawks Crossing LLC has contracted to buy corn, soybean and cotton fields that rise up toward Shinpock Hill from Camp Creek Canal to the west.

Just beyond the canal, about a half mile away, the future Interstate 269 route crosses a just-completed segment of a countywide sewer system's backbone. Across the road from the grass airstrip, Lewisburg Elementary School, the county's newest, is scheduled to welcome its first students this week; a high school building is well under way next door.

Morrow thinks people will be living on this hill overlooking the school by this time next year, and DeSoto County officials aren't betting against him.

More than seven families move to the county every day, and 4,296 home-building permits have been issued by the county and its cities since Jan. 1, 2004.

In the next couple of years, the hotspots for residential development are expected to include the fringes of Olive Branch, Southaven and Hernando and the triangle formed by those cities.

The red zone seems to be anything south of Goodman Road, which crosses the county about two miles south of Memphis, and north of the I-69/269 corridor, nearly five miles south of Goodman.

Developers, home builders and residents also are flocking to an area east of Olive Branch and Southaven's most recent annexation areas, down Getwell Road south of Church Road.

"I think this place is going to be so drastically different in five years that people who came here in the last five years are not going to recognize it," said Jim McDougal, deputy county planning director.

As county and cities grow, elected officials, planners and engineers say they're striving to preserve the rural atmosphere that attracts people to DeSoto. At the same time, it's crucial to avoid problems that today's newcomers could regret five years from now.

A large part of city and county regulatory effort is focused on making sure that subdivisions and planned developments have adequate drainage to prevent flooding, a historical thorn in DeSoto's side.

Two county drainage inspectors came on board last fall, and county supervisors recently voted to require long-lasting concrete pipe in subdivision drainage.

Local governments will have more control over erosion and drainage issues in coming years, as they take on responsibility for enforcing federal storm water management rules, assistant county engineer Scott Young said. Each city and the county are required to adopt ordinances by Jan. 1, 2006, spelling out plans to handle water that collects and runs off after rains.

Some developers have grumbled about the concrete pipe requirement, saying it threatens to push up lot prices and squelch development.

But Dale Bradshaw, who has developed about 150 lots in the county and Olive Branch, said it's just a cost of doing business in DeSoto. "It just makes everything go up. We've got to pass the costs on to somebody."

Bradshaw, 53, didn't seem concerned about the added costs, because his firm develops and builds homes in the $275,000 to $300,000 range. He keeps going back to the county because undeveloped land in Olive Branch is scarce and the county offers the opportunity for upscale homes on larger lots.

Morrow, 53, said he's OK with the county's rules. "The Board of Supervisors recently went to all concrete pipe. With concrete pipe, you're able to slow down the force of the water."

He and McDougal echoed what Southaven officials said about the recent flooding in the Autumn Woods area: that it looked more like a freakish downpour of rain than a major problem with past subdivision regulations.

"That was an unbelievable amount of rain in a short period of time," Morrow said.

His investment group has been contracting to buy large tracts on the west side of the county, primarily along the bluff overlooking the Mississippi Delta. They hedged their bets by assembling the property for The Villages of Hawks Crossing, across the street from the Lewisburg school.

Morrow has hired the Dalhoff Thomas Daws land planning and landscape architecture firm to create master plans for his projects, starting with The Villages of Scenic Hollow off State Line Road a mile west of Southaven.

He said he intends to "raise the bar" for residential development in the county by concentrating on building in amenities, such as clubhouses, recreation facilities and walking trails, that have proven a powerful attraction for homebuyers.

"That's what I'm trying to sell the people of DeSoto County on: The lots are smaller, but they've got more amenities," Morrow said.

Supervisor Tommy Lewis, the Board of Supervisors president whose district includes the Hawks Crossing site, said the county does a better job of reviewing development than it did a decade ago.

Developers are required to hire engineers to produce detailed drainage plans. About five years ago, the county engineer's duties were expanded to include scrutinizing development plans with particular attention to drainage and water issues.

Lewis said, "Prior to that, for economic reasons, the regulations called for the developer's engineer to design the subdivision according to our regulations, and I feel sure they probably did, but I feel we have a better check and balance now."

Lewis believes recent flash floods point up the need to pay even more attention to drainage.

Supervisor Jessie Medlin said, "I think we've got a better handle on development than we did, but it's coming at us faster. The question is, 'Do we have enough help?'

"As far as drainage, we're doing better, but there's always room for improvement."

Kenneth Hudson, who lives in the Center Hill Road area east of Olive Branch, is one of many citizens who have traveled to Planning Commission meetings to argue against smaller lots extending into formerly rural areas.

Hudson spoke against a development of half-acre lots, pushing instead for 3/4 -acre lots, but supervisors OK'd the smaller lots.

Supervisor Lewis sees no end in sight to the advance of urban development into the county. "I think it's inevitable. I think a large part of the market today doesn't want to be right in the city, but doesn't necessarily want a large lot. The Baby Boomers are aging, and they'd rather go fishing or play golf than cut the grass."

Wayne Risher is a reporter for DeSoto Appeal. Contact him at (901) 333-2031.