Mayor discusses future of Buda

BUDA — The city of Buda held its annual State of the City Address on Wednesday, Nov. 15.

City manager Micah Grau began the presentation by noting how the city has grown over the years and the accomplishments it has achieved. According to Grau, the city now has 147 full-time employees and has implemented a new customer service policy and safety training, added adequate supplies to facilities and more. The city has also adopted a new downtown master plan that is in the early stages.

Next, city council member Evan Ture provided a refresh on what has occurred in the city over the past year, including ribbon cuttings, grand openings and employment opportunities — the biggest being new restaurant locations. Over the past year, Shark’s Burger, Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ, Dutch Bros. Coffee, Progress Coffee + Beer, Taco Clem and others have set up shop in the small-town- turned-big city.

“The additions around downtown have been huge. The Buda EDC, in particular, has worked hard to encourage businesses to locate in Buda, especially unique ones [and] especially the folks that are really making use of the historic downtown space in a way that brings life into it,” said Ture.

Ture praised the Buda Economic Development Corporation for working together to provide incentives for new businesses. Some of these incentives are capital investments and sales tax reimbursement. For example, Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ received a $228,000 incentive as part of opening a business in the city. Although creating competition for new businesses is important, Ture also stressed business retention, which the Buda EDC also provided incentives for. Brooklyn’s Down South received $75,000 to replace old floors and Night Hawk Frozen Foods has a $60,000 support for expansion efforts.

There has also been $200,000 in incentives disbursed to 40 small businesses for marketing, workforce and building improvements.

“We are not the Texas Innovation Corridor without the fiber upgrade. Bringing fiber to Buda is a key aspect of making our businesses competitive, also, obviously, quality of life and impact to our residents,” said Ture after discussing the addition of AT&T Fiber and Frontier Fiber.

Other additions have been City Limits Subaru, Airstream of Austin, RDO Equipment Co. and Blue Compass RV, as well as the grand opening of the Buda Welcome Center and the Green Meadows Pavilion.

The 88th legislature

Mayor Lee Urbanovsky started the final portion of the presentation with concerns of recently passed bills, namely Senate Bill 2038 and Senate Bill 2127.

SB 2038 is a bill that allows property owners the right to petition to remove themselves from a city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). The law states that the city has no right to deny the request and must grant it. According to Urbanovsky, this is violating the city’s right to control properties next to them and used the recent loss of Bailey Land Investment, LP’s 459 acres from the ETJ as an example. This property is part of the ongoing Persimmon Project and has been an important topic of discussion over the last few months. Despite this loss, Urbanovsky confirmed that the city council adopted a revised Persimmon term sheet a few weeks ago and are negotiating to bring the project back into the ETJ limits.

Urbanovsky’s concern with SB 2127, also known as the Death Star Act, is that it allows individuals to sue the city if they believe the city is enforcing ordinances that are not explicitly outlined in state law.

Upcoming projects

The mayor then shifted his focus to the recently  approved fiscal year 2023-24 budget, amounting to $107 million, with $52.5 million in capital projects and the “lowest tax rate of any full-service city in our area.”

The city’s priorities are mobility, sidewalks, infrastructure, park improvements, public safety, economic development, downtown parking and more. Urbanovsky also stated that the city was focusing on employee retention and has raised the minimum wage to $18 for city employees.

Buda is focusing on mobility by continuing to work on its 2021 Proposition A and is allotting a significant portion to congestion relief, drainage upgrades, pedestrian and bicyclist connectivity and new development along West Goforth and Old Black Colony Road. There will also be an East Main Street  expansion project in the near future.

Proposition B, which focuses on parks and recreation and has a $20 million pledge from Hays County, will add a new Onion Creek trail, a regional East side park and Garrison Park enhancements.

Water has been a huge topic for Central Texas and Urbanovsky broke down the city’s water usage: 55% comes from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, 27% from the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer and 18% from the Alliance Regional Water Authority.

“Buda recently became only the fifth water system in the state authorized to use water for public consumption via aquifer storage and recovery,” Urbanovsky said. “This project will allow us to store water during times of excess, generally in the fall, winter and spring, for use during drought or emergency situations … For reference, the Cabela’s water tower is one million gallons. Since last November, we have been able to store 20 million gallons.”

More developments include:

• Stonefield 35 Industrial Park: The development sits on nearly 23 acres and has three industrial office warehouse buildings, with more than 27,000 square feet and 247,000 square feet of warehouse space.

• Buda Commerce Center by STREAM: The five building warehouse complex will have nearly a million square feet of space and is set to open the first buildings in early 2024.

• The Well: To be located at 835 Main Street, the project will have nearly 31,000 square feet of retail space.

• Buda Crossing: The project will have two multi-unit commercial buildings for retail and restaurant space.

• Azure Modern Living: This development is mixed use space with commercial and residential areas and will be the first vertical mixed-use project in a long time.

• Buda Gateway: A development on 48 acres which proposes five industrial warehouse buildings.

• Corner on Main: This will be a village format development with restaurants and retail spaces and is expected in 2025.

• West Oak: A proposed development of 44-and-a-half acres, which is expected to have 16 acres of commercial space and 600 multifamily units. This project is still developing and is expected to be brought in front of council in December.

“Buda is significantly changing,” said Urbanovsky. “We are constantly [and] consistently reinforcing our shared vision and our collaborative efforts internal and external. We are making significant progress.”