AUSTIN Metro Update Thread

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

Of course...

But you said that those cities together could be larger than the Round Rock area...

Originally Posted by JoninATX

From Austin to San Antonio is getting decent infill and it's about to take off give it another 10 to 15 yrs all those cities Buda, Kyle, San Marcos will be about as large if not larger than Round Rock.

That's never going to happen unless Round Rock suddenly decides it wants an urban growth boundary. (Ha!)

[JoninATX]

Well, let me rephase it, San Marcos and Kyle could become larger than Round Rock for what it is right now, which is proably around 110,000. If San Marcos continues to grow the same with Kyle their population could double maybe triple in the next 20yrs. Round Rock will continue to grow unless something major happens. Now there is a chance that both could surpass Round Rock in the future which is not likely but possible.

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

That's never going to happen unless Round Rock suddenly decides it wants an urban growth boundary. (Ha!)

I can agree to that. Round Rock seems it wants to keep an anti urban and more of a suburban lifestyle city.

[KevinFromTexas]

The cities (cities?) up in Williamson County will eventually become so landlocked that if they want to continue to grow and prosper they'll eventually have to become more urban and create some vertical density. They're already bumping into each other, and there's the other ones that haven't even truly began to grow yet like Hutto and Taylor which could create even less elbow room if they start growing like the others have.

[the Genral]

I can maybe see Taylor having modest growth but it is so far away from Hutto, the closest city to the west, that Taylor will never come close to Hutto. Tollway 45 effectively separates Pflugerville's north side and Round Rock's southeast side, but both can still grow due east. I think Round Rock and Cedar Park may end up encroaching each other as perhaps Hutto and RR. There is still a ton of undeveloped land in all these cities except Pflugerville which is bordered by Austin and RR. I think their next frontier would have to be on the other side of 130 to the east. RR will continue to spread out in almost all directions with virtually no hope for urban intervention and vertical relief. I'm east of RR and they are coming for me.

[Jdawgboy]

If Williamson County does exceed Travis with 1.4 million residents, Id expect Round Rock to be close to half a million people with Cedar Park and Leander in the 250,000 mark each. Then add cities like Hutto, Georgetown, Taylor, Liberty Hill ect. filling in the rest of the pop. Also with the fast growth of the Killeen/Temple area Id expect increased growth between Georgetown and Temple. IMO its likely possible there will be more urbanization from Austin northward 60 miles before it is fully developed between Austin and San Antonio.

The article which I saw that came out before this article was about a summit between government and business leaders from Austin and San Antonio as well as the corridor cities that was held in San Marcos in Sept. Lead demographers and economists stated that Austin will surpass San Antonio in population as well as the Austin Metro population which is expected to exceed 3.5 million people while San Antonio's will level out at around 2.7 million. They also mentioned Williamson County would see the highest growth of the entire region and is expected to pass Travis County in Population but not by a ton as both Counties will be comparable to each other. Hays County will have about 500,000 people. Bastrop will also see a large increase in population and would be next largest behind Hays. They cited several factors including the Austin area Boom and a continue explosion in the Asian and Hispanic populations. The next highest growth will be in Guadelupe and Comal Counties which will be the hot spots in the SA Metro area but neither are expected to get the population that even Hays is expecting.

It really is not that surprising considering Austin has moved up two Metro spots from 35th place in 2010 now to 33rd place jumping Charlotte and Indianapolis. That is 150,000 new people in a 2 year time frame! The growth is not expected to slow down at all and its possible could speed up even more barring any major world economic downturns. Even then Austin will likely continue to fair better than most cities.

[Austin_Expert]

I've seen Round Rock's population at "build out" at ~250,000 people. I'm assuming that would be if it continued growing in it's current growth mode.

At some point though, it could hypothetically begin redeveloping the already built out areas at higher densities.

There are actually a few corridors, such as Mays St. where I can imagine 4 to 6 story VMU style apartment building lining the street.

[KevinFromTexas]

^If you read that article, the same City of Austin demographer who compiled this data also did the Austin/San Antonio numbers. There's a link to that other article. Click on the guy's name in the article and it takes you there.

I also think it'll be a while before we see Austin and San Antonio grow together. I was just in San Antonio Thursday night on the north side. We took I-35 to Loop 410 to Highway 16 up around the airport and South Texas Medical Center. Anyway, the drive there and back had a lot of empty land where it was dark.

There are sizable chunks of open vacant land between Austin/Williamson County and Temple, but there is way more sprawl and crazy growth going on in Williamson County that might eventually stretch that direction. It's more than the sprawl that is happening between Austin and San Antonio. Kyle and Buda are still fairly small and there's not much else except for San Marcos and New Braunfels. San Marcos doesn't sprawl all that much, even less than New Braunfels.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

^If you read that article, the same City of Austin demographer who compiled this data also did the Austin/San Antonio numbers. There's a link to that other article. Click on the guy's name in the article and it takes you there.

I also think it'll be a while before we see Austin and San Antonio grow together. I was just in San Antonio Thursday night on the north side. We took I-35 to Loop 410 to Highway 16 up around the airport and South Texas Medical Center. Anyway, the drive there and back had a lot of empty land where it was dark.

There are sizable chunks of open vacant land between Austin/Williamson County and Temple, but there is way more sprawl and crazy growth going on in Williamson County that might eventually stretch that direction. It's more than the sprawl that is happening between Austin and San Antonio. Kyle and Buda are still fairly small and there's not much else except for San Marcos and New Braunfels. San Marcos doesn't sprawl all that much, even less than New Braunfels.

Agreed, not a lot of sprawl in those cities. Kyle you could say is the most sprawled as even Buda seems to be clumping in a more unified center than Kyle is.

It was actually two guys. One was from Austin, the other Demographer was San Antonio Demographer Lloyd Potter.

[JoninATX]

Since there is 5 million people between Waco and San Antonio and the way the growth is going I could see 10 million people in 30 to 40 yrs. My main concert is the water supply in the future.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

Since there is 5 million people between Waco and San Antonio and the way the growth is going I could see 10 million people in 30 to 40 yrs. My main concert is the water supply in the future.

Have no fear; our water issues will be resolved with the forthcoming impact of an icy comet on December 21, 2012.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/l...cation-/nT4Zx/

Posted: 5:31 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013
Schlitterbahn eyes different Cedar Park location, smaller development

By Benjamin Wermund
American-Statesman Staff
Two years after the Cedar Park City Council approved a multimillion-dollar agreement to bring Schlitterbahn to town by 2012, the company is eyeing a different spot for the yet-to-be-built water park than it originally set its sights on, a city official said Tuesday.

“We continue to have meetings and try and see if there is a potential project between the city and Schlitterbahn,” Economic Development Director Phil Brewer said. “Right now, if it were to happen, it would be on a different site than the original proposed project was, but in the same area of town.”

[NYC2ATX]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

As true as that may be, the Round Rock area will double as well. San Marcos area will simply never be as large.

I feel like if San Marcos doesn't necessarily explode with growth, which would likely manifest in enormous, sprawling subdivisions...it could, as home to TSU, become the Ann Arbor to Austin's metro Detroit. If you take my meaning. I'd be alright with that.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

I feel like if San Marcos doesn't necessarily explode with growth, which would likely manifest in enormous, sprawling subdivisions...it could, as home to TSU, become the Ann Arbor to Austin's metro Detroit. If you take my meaning. I'd be alright with that.

I'd be super alright with that, but San Marcos just isn't heading in that direction. Ann Arbor is full of wealthy individuals, whereas San Marcos is becoming poorer and poorer as immigrants and other minorities are pushed out of central Austin.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://impactnews.com/articles/main-...ransformation/

Main Street’s transformation
by Beth Wade
January 17, 2013

City program promotes downtown businesses

Hargrove said the city’s goal for 2013 is to make downtown a signature destination, and construction on Main Street is expected to draw people into downtown.

“We have vitality alive on the Square that is just superb; businesses are active, and new businesses are pending,” Mayor George Garver said. “The city is invested in restructuring certain portions of downtown all designed to help increase people’s desire to be part of our downtown area.”

With the help of the city’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and Arts and Culture board of directors, Hargrove said the Main Street Advisory Board and Main Street Program would work throughout 2013 to plan projects and events to bring visitors to the downtown area. The city already hosts several events in downtown, including the Georgetown Swirl in March and the Red Poppy Festival in April.

[KevinFromTexas]

http://impactnews.com/articles/round...00k-residents/

Round Rock prepares for its next 100K residents
by JP Eichmiller
January 17, 2013

As new residents continue to migrate into Round Rock, city planners are facing new infrastructure demands on the city’s streets, utilities and water supply.

Between 1990 and 2010, Round Rock’s population more than tripled, and in 2012 the city’s population exceeded 100,000, according to U.S. census data. According to city projections, Round Rock’s population is expected to continue growing by 2 percent to 3.1 percent through 2030, when it is anticipated to exceed 158,000.

“We are not blind to what is coming,” said Round Rock Transportation Department director Gary Hudder. “Over the next 25 years, the growth will shift from Austin to the north Williamson County area.”

[MightyYoda]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

http://impactnews.com/articles/round...00k-residents/

Round Rock will continue to grow, but it isn't going to be pulling people from Austin anymore than San Marcos will. You move to Round Rock because it is cheap. If you want a small town feel with charm, but close to Austin, move to Georgetown. I currently live in Cedar Park and I can't put my finger on it, but the best way I could describe RR is soulless. Cedar Park with brushy creek going through it and the hill country to the west feels to me at least to have character even if it is mostly sprawl. I love Georgetown, and feel it has that character and charm that places like Wimberley do (where I grew up). Round Rock has lost all its character or never had it, not sure.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by MightyYoda

Round Rock will continue to grow, but it isn't going to be pulling people from Austin anymore than San Marcos will. You move to Round Rock because it is cheap. If you want a small town feel with charm, but close to Austin, move to Georgetown. I currently live in Cedar Park and I can't put my finger on it, but the best way I could describe RR is soulless. Cedar Park with brushy creek going through it and the hill country to the west feels to me at least to have character even if it is mostly sprawl. I love Georgetown, and feel it has that character and charm that places like Wimberley do (where I grew up). Round Rock has lost all its character or never had it, not sure.

Incorrect. San Marcos is not going to begin to draw more people from Austin!!! It has everything to do with jobs, housing cost, location, etc., etc., etc.. The job growth of San Marcos/Hays county has not warranted tremendous population changes in the past few decades.

RR is 16-17 miles north of CBD Austin and SM is 30. Growth will (and always will) depend largely on where living units and jobs are available. Other than the east side of the city limits, RR is completely boxed in. Density codes will determine their absolute population.

Williamson County will continue to greatly outpace Hays in growth for the coming decades (unless something massive happens in terms of housing and jobs). Currently, the bulk of home development and job growth is moving toward the northern, northeastern and northwestern sections of the Austin metro area. Little is presently moving into Hays County.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Incorrect. San Marcos is not going to begin to draw more people from Austin!!!!

Where did he say that it would?!?

His statement

Round Rock will continue to grow, but it isn't going to be pulling people from Austin anymore than San Marcos will.

implies (to me) that he thinks neither Round Rock nor San Marcos will be pulling people from Austin.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

Where did he say that it would?!?

His statement



implies (to me) that he thinks neither Round Rock nor San Marcos will be pulling people from Austin.

I agree with this reading. He did not say San Marcos was going to be pulling people, but that it wasn't.