Development issues were atop the minds of voters in attendance at the April 24 Leander City Council candidate forum.

Nearly half of the 11 candidates vying for office were absent at the Leander Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event. Two of the three mayoral candidates—City Councilman Chris Fielder and Bob Hanson—were in attendance, while Mayor John Cowman had a conflicting fundraising event.

Candidates were asked multiple times how they intend on facilitating Leander's growth. Hanson suggested that existing policies have hindered the city from increasing its residential and commercial base.

"I believe restrictive zoning has prevented expansion," Hanson said. "I will do everything I can to ensure people feel welcomed and want to come here."

If elected mayor, Fielder said he would organize a large volunteer committee responsible for providing input on issues most vital to Leander residents.

"The whole purpose would be to feed the mayor ideas," Fielder said. "That's the way government is supposed to work."

One question sought a promise from candidates to vote down any tax breaks to new developers that would directly burden Leander residents. Each candidate agreed not to provide baseless incentives, but nobody went as far as suggesting tax rebates be outlawed.

"Bringing business to the city is important, but the residents are also important, and we need to ensure both are winners in this," said Jason Dishongh, candidate for Leander City Council Place 5. "Every time we look at this, we need to make sure residents are not impacted."

Tax rebate programs were put into place when H-E-B Plus, Lowe's and Kohl's came into Leander. Leander Mayor Pro Tem David Siebold, who is seeking re-election for City Council Place 6, said he will support any incentive deal that has developers—and not the city—paying upfront infrastructure costs.

It's important to free up that money, Siebold said, so the city can concentrate on ways to help reduce property taxes and water rates.

"Water is going to be a tough thing to lower because water is becoming an expensive commodity in the central Texas area," Siebold said. "We need to look at development standards to figure out how to lessen water issues in the area."

He was in agreement with the rest of the panel: Do what's necessary to help Leander grow. It starts by looking at why Cedar Park and not Leander has recently added several large retail businesses, said Sid Sokol, a candidate to fill the unexpired term for Place 5.

"Why are they getting the big-box stores? Yeah, they're bigger, but we're not the baby anymore," Sokol said. "We have to figure out what's wrong, and we have to fix it. Sure, people will move here because it's beautiful, but they're driving to our competitors to go shopping."

Despite vacancies at several existing retail outlets, Michell Cantwell, Place 4 incumbent candidate, said the council should not govern where developers should move.

"The market drives who comes in, and we cannot dictate to any business they have to relocate to a certain area," Cantwell said. "This is not something the city gets into."

Among those candidates unable to attend the forum were Cowman, Place 4 candidate Jerry Perez, Place 5 candidate John F. Perez and Place 6 candidate Randy Caldwell. Councilwoman Kirsten Lynch is running unopposed for the Place 2 seat.