A LOOK AHEAD
Officials: Collaboration key for a bright future
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population of Williamson County increased almost 20% from April 2020 to July 2024.
During that time, the number of Hutto residents jumped an estimated 54% and Taylor’s population rose by 9.7%, but large developments looming on the horizon promise a boom for Taylor as new jobs are created.
While the cities have both certainly experienced growing pains, Hutto and Taylor have seized the opportunities presented by increased investment and interest in an effort to set up the towns for success.
Hutto has won several awards over the last five years, including being named as one of the top 50 places to live in the U.S. by Money Magazine for 2022-2023 and the safest city in Williamson County in 2022 from SafeWise, a national home security firm.
Taylor has landed large industrial developments including Samsung Austin Semiconductor, which not only will add jobs and tax revenue, but has committed to a donation program that benefits city, school and community organizations.
With growth predicted to continue in Williamson County, area leaders are sharing what changes they envision over the next 10 years.
OPPORTUNITY RUSS BOLES WILLIAMSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER PRECINCT 4 “In the last 22 months, Williamson County has added several municipal utility districts (precursors to neighborhoods), comprising almost 4,000 acres. That’s six square miles. What I see over the next 10 years is developers working to get those projects going and built. The county’s No. 1 goal is safety. That includes safe neighborhoods and safe roads and safe streets. As a commissioner, I see me spending time responding to those developments.”
“The forefront of everybody’s mind is water. There is water near us but actually getting it to Williamson County, I don’t know that we’ve got answers to that. In the last election the citizens approved the state committing significant investments each year to address our water needs. We have to do our work here in the county, but we need help from the state as well.”
“I just see a ton of opportunity. I think we’re going to see a new variety of housing products that I hope are more affordable. I think we’re going to see commercial-industrial investment that is going to lead to well-paying jobs. For somebody like me, those opportunities are not just for me but for my kids and grandkids and I think that’s pretty important.”
ECONOMICGROWTH BEN WHITE CEO/PRESIDENT, TAYLOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP.
“Taylor is poised to be the next major hub in the Austin (metropolitan service area). We have a major employer that is Samsung, another major employer that just announced is Compal Electronics bringing 900 jobs. The University of Texas is looking to build a 68-acre campus to complement the opportunities that Temple College provides. Hundreds of millions of dollars from the state of Texas and Williamson County are being put into our road infrastructure to create major highways that will lead people to Taylor. We have the only rail park in Central Texas; that will help transport goods into and out of the state and that is great for development and commerce.”
“The goal of our EDC is to have diversification of the local economy. We’re looking at other prospects that are in the aerospace and health care and other advanced manufacturer industries. But we’re also looking at projects that nobody else can look at with our rail service.”
“We’re going to have our first mixeduse development announced in the next two months and that’s going to be exciting. It will have retail, restaurants, a parking garage or maybe two, an office complex, a hotel and multifamily housing. Taylor is becoming big time now. We’re going to start seeing a lot of those developments that are going to start bringing in the retail and restaurants the community wants.”
AGRICULTURE RYAN COLLETT FARM MANAGER, STILES FARM FOUNDATION
“I don’t think you can overstate it: Things are pretty dire. We’ve gotten to a place where it’s hard to look into the future and say with confidence our business model is going to be sustainable for 20 years, 50 years. I don’t know a lot of younger farmers that have confidence they’re going to be able to give their operation to their kids.”
“Technology is one way we might be able to weather the storm to some extent. Using bigger equipment, more intelligent equipment, maybe even autonomous equipment to lower labor costs. But the cost of equipment is very expensive. Vertical farming and other methods are great for certain specialty crops but for Central Texas commodity production like corn and cotton, there’s not going to be a silver bullet that’s going to save us.”
“You see more and more people working other jobs in order to maintain their farm operations. Do I think agriculture is going to go away? No, we all need to eat. But what is it going to look like, what is it going to take? I don’t have a great answer.”
RESILIENCE
THOMAS MARTINEZ CHAIRMAN, GREATER TAYLOR COAD
Editor’s note: Taylor has the only Community Organizations Active in Disaster chapter in Williamson County. The nonprofit unites agencies and individuals to coordinate disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation efforts across the region.
“As far as the 10-year plan, it’s basically the same from the first year to the tenth year and onward. We just want to be prepared to be able to react in a positive way regardless of what the situation is, whether a minor or major disaster. Whether it impacts 20 people or thousands of people, we want to be able facilitate and orchestrate the best we can to help support the people’s needs.”
“We’re working on building a regional network. Other communities have shown interest in working with us, being able to support each other and having lines of communication where we all understand what capabilities we add and what resources are available to us outside of our organizations. There are all kinds of groups that are ready to support in time of disaster but you have to know who they are, where they are, how to contact them and what their capabilities are in advance so you can map out what happens when there is a small-field disaster, when there is a larger disaster and when there is a massive disaster.”
“As the county continues to grow, what we define right now as a major disaster may change considerably 10 years from now and we have to be aware of that.”
EDUCATION AMY ENGLISH
HUTTO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD PRESIDENT
“With all the kids coming because of the industry in our area, we’re just really digging into our long-term facilities planning. We know that we’re going to need more schools. It’s going to be a matter of what our community is willing to help support and how fast we could get those facilities built. That’s always something that is a challenge in districts that are fast-growing, is being able to keep up and in that time we’re probably going to have some pinch points as far as overcrowding and transportation.”
“The ISD, higher education and local industries need to work closely together because our kids are the basis of their workforce. We need to figure out what kind of employees they are looking for, what kind of skill sets and continue collaborations with them so we can have those offerings.”
“With all these changes in Williamson County, we’re going to have to all work together to have a good vision of what the next 10 years is going to look like because I think it’s going to really happen fast and hopefully we can be very strategic in our choices and work well together.”
PUBLIC SAFETY
JEFFREY YARBROUGH
HUTTO POLICE DEPARTMENT CHIEF
“With growth comes growing pains, but I think we recognize the need for our publicsafety initiative to make some of those pains less painful. We want to continue to have a quality of life that makes people feel safe not only because they feel it but because they are.”
“We look at trends to recognize what areas need more police attention or visibility, looking at the growth of our city and how to align our patrol sections to maximize our response. We’re identifying strategies to continue this success as we grow.”
“We will continue to offer to our community the ability to partner with our department by going to homeowners association meetings and working with large, new companies regarding safety issues. Through initiatives like the Community Safe project, new businesses will understand what a police response will be and the police will know what steps the business has planned to take for their safety.”
“My vision for the future of Hutto is for people to see what we experience every day – a community that truly cares about its Police Department, and a Police Department that truly cares about its community. We’re going to grow, and do it together.”
QUALITY OF LIFE
TYLER BYBEE
TAYLOR MANAGING DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY SERVICES
“I’ve always had this vision of what Taylor can be and I’m very optimistic that we’re going to be able to realize some of that. We are wrapping up our rapid transportation plan regarding sidewalks and (federal Americans with Disabilities Act compliance) and in that we’re trying to work with Hutto and the county with connectivity of our trail system – not just to Hutto but other avenues toward Georgetown. Just being connected to that regional trail system is inspiring and achievable, but it takes coordination with those other entities which we are working on.”
“We do have a great parks system but as we grow, we will be looking at that as we rewrite the comprehensive plan, then hopefully reimagining our entire parks master plan.”
“I feel like we’ve done a good job in the last few years with the opportunities. But adding an indoor recreation space would expand that tenfold.”
“We have a wonderful relationship with our (Taylor Independent School District) and our corporate partners that are coming in and already here. Hopefully they will want to help us improve the quality of life in the place where their workers will want to live.”
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