by MOSES LEOS III
It is no surprise to Buda City Council members that their fair city is expanding at a rapid pace. But for some, forsaking the city’s small town feel and charm negates any thought of turning Buda into another bustling suburb.
Such thoughts were brought to the table at the May 7 city council meeting, where the Pegasus Planning Group released findings from their “Economic Development Strategic Plan and Retail Leakage Study.”
The group, hired by the Buda Economic Development Corporation (EDC) in February 2013, was tasked with finding the strengths and weaknesses of the city’s economic model.
Pegasus’ study found that the low tax rate of 0.27 percent, a fast growing, youthful community and an educated work force aided the city’s rapid growth.
However, the study confirmed that a major drawback for the city is the lack of room to expand horizontally. According to the report, the city has an opportunity to take advantage of a potential $247,967,000 worth of revenue in retail leakage, which is when members of a community spend money outside that community. In Buda’s case this could mean people shopping and spending money in Austin or Kyle or beyond.
Yet, as the city expands closer to the Austin and Kyle Extraterritorial Jurisdictions (ETJ), Buda is running out of space to contain the leakage.
Sean Garretson of Pegasus, who presented the findings to the council, encouraged vertical development to take advantage in the office and industrial sector.
“There is limited space to do all of this,” Garretson said. “There is a need to go vertical.”
This measure did not sit well with council member George Haehn. After the presentation, he said, “If I wanted to see highrises, I’d move to Austin.”
Seeing the city lose its small town feel and charm was a sticking point for Haehn.
“The idea of sacrificing the character of the city for population growth does not make sense to me,” Haehn said. “The whole idea is that (Buda) is a small town. Yes, we have rapid growth; it’s astronomical. But we still have a small town feel. If we got greedy and went after all of that retail, we would become just another big city.”
Buda Mayor Todd Ruge believes developing vertically is not something the city is ready to do.
“The citizens of Buda do not want (vertical development). As mayor, I don’t want to see it,” said Ruge.
Avoiding overwhelming growth is a primary reason Ruge disapproves of the measure. He wishes to keep Buda from becoming another Round Rock or Georgetown.
“The question becomes, ‘do we want to become like Round Rock, with an explosion of highrises?’ or ‘do we keep the small town feel?’ Ruge said. “At this time, it is not advantageous for Buda to bring in highrises. Not at this point.”
The council’s goal is to focus on responsible growth, Ruge said, specifically, the need to maintain the 2030 Comprehensive Plan and stick to the city’s existing goals.
“I love the idea that we are growing. I don’t think anyone in the city is complaining about growth,” Haehn said. “However, we need to stick with the 2030 plan. We spent so much time and money getting the plan together. It’s a wonderful plan. If we focus on that and accomplish those goals, we can see a marked increase in commercial activities in the city limits.”
Both Ruge and Haehn understand Buda is in the crosshairs for rapid growth. Currently, there are three buildings in Buda that are three stories high, all hotels.
“In Buda, anything above four stories is a highrise,” Haehn said. “I would not want to see anything higher than three stories.”
Ruge said ensuring development remains in check is the goal.
“We just want to focus on responsible growth,” Ruge said. “We want to keep our small town charm.”
