Cedar Park plans for residential build out within the decade

Cedar Park plans for residential build out within the decade

Written by Kara Vaught Wednesday, 07 November 2007

Cedar Park is approaching a time when it will be virtually built out. It is landlocked — bordered on all sides by the city limits or extra-territorial jurisdictions of other cities.

Maximum capacity

“We’ve had projections of build out as early as 2012 and as late as 2015 or ’16 based on growth patterns,” said Duane Smith, director of planning and development. “There are other variables in there such as the economy and what forces interact on you that you have no control over.”

Smith said a population estimate of 95,000 is a reasonable maximum.

However, the city will never tack the words “No Vacancy” under its city limits signs. People constantly move in and out of town, older buildings can be redeveloped and many neighborhoods have a scattering of vacant lots, Smith said.

“You start looking at transition areas, or areas that are going to infill or redevelop,” Smith said. “So even though your parameters may be pretty well used up, you have a lot of internal stuff that may change over the years. It doesn’t mean that there’s no activity.”

Mayor Bob Lemon also notes that residential build out will occur more quickly than commercial build out.

“Our city is not going to be built out in five years; we are going to be built out residentially in five years. Then we’ll have five to 10 years of commercial growth.”

Tallying the lots

Cedar Park’s offices of planning and building inspections recently completed an inventory of existing and anticipated single-family lots left in the city and its ETJ.

It divided the lots into four categories: lots currently defined and available for construction, lots shown on preliminary plats, estimates of lots in undefined single-family zoning districts and estimates of lots on land designated by the Future Land Use Plan.

The total projected lot count totals 5,829. Multiplied by the planning department’s average of 3.1 persons per lot, Cedar Park can expect to gain more than 18,000 residents living in single-family homes.

About 50,000 people live within the city limits now, in addition to 20,000 in the extra-territorial jurisdiction.

A study involving the number of multi-family lots left is now underway.

Space in Leander

Many cities — especially in land-rich states — have not compiled similar studies. The reason: room to grow.

“Every city has some point where it will stop growing and will no longer be able to create additional lots,” said Mark Lewis, Cedar Park’s director of building inspections. “It’s just not always as clearly defined as it is for Cedar Park.”

Leander, in contrast, has room to expand on all but its northeast and south sides.

“We have so much open land which has yet to be annexed and zoned that we don’t even know how much residential or commercial or industrial land is going to be broken out in terms of acreage,” said David Hutton, Leander director of planning.

Hutton said Leanders projected max-imum population estimates range from 150,000 to 200,000. It is the seventh-fastest growing city in Texas by number of new residents and the 12th by percentage of new residents to old. The city anticipates growth will speed up as Cedar Park approaches build out.

“That’s just the way a population grows — outward from the center of the metropolitan area,” Hutton said.

Seeing the future

Cedar Park’s Future Land Use Plan lays out a guideline for planning the locations of different usages.

Residential development occupies 49.5 percent of Cedar Park’s land, while office, retail and commercial buildings take up 34 percent of the city.

Place 6 council member Cobby Caputo said Cedar Park intends to be more than a bedroom community; it needs places to play, work and shop. For that reason, the council denies some requests by developers for changes in zoning from commercial to residential.

“That guide tries to balance the various land uses in order to achieve a sustainable, viable community that mixes residential, commercial and industrial,” Smith said.

IN DECEMBER: As population growth moves north, what is Leanders plan for the future?

Cedar Park active single-family developments
The city recently completed an inventory of active residential developments estimated to be completed between 2007 and 2012.
Subdivison	Acreage	Total lots	Remaining lots	Future pop. est.
Buttercup Creek	39	148	148	459 persons
Cabalio Ranch	157	419	419	1,299 persons
Creekview	58	253	252	784 persons
Cypress Canyon	137	377	177	1,169 persons
Forest Oaks	168	560	62	1,736 persons
Ranch at Brushy Creek	543	1,648	1,219	5,109 persons
Ranch at Brushy Creek South	12	41	1	127 persons
Red Oaks	171	521	587	1,615 persons
Silver Oaks	89	295	54	915 persons
Silverado West	148	541	271	1,677 persons
Town Center	115	857	411	2,657 persons
Twin Creeks	98	247	191	766 persons
Walsh Trails	194	613	569	1,900 persons
West Park Estates II	10	26	26	81 persons
Whitestone Oaks at Anderson Mill	86	306	306	949 persons
Undeveloped acreage	55.9	N/A	85 (est.)	264 persons
Future Land Use acreage designated as compatible for single family	386	N/A	1,351 (est.)	4,188 persons
Source: Cedar Park planning and development department