Shoppers in Leander are contributing to an overall increase in sales tax revenue collected, and city officials attribute the economic uptick to a rise in population and home and commercial construction. In February alone the city’s sales tax revenue was up 18.62 percent compared with February 2014, said Eric Zeno, city of Leander economic development manager. In the first quarter of 2015, the city saw a sales tax revenue increase of 24.93 percent compared with the first quarter of 2014, he said. In January the city issued 89 building permits for single-family homes, a 43.5 percent increase compared with January 2014. City Manager Kent Cagle said Leander has not had any new significant retailers come to the area recently, but existing businesses are continuing to profit. “Almost all of our retailers are doing better because they have more customers,” Cagle said. “That’s everything from 7-Eleven to McDonald’s to Lowe’s, Kohl’s [and] H-E-B.” Leander residents and visitors are not only spending money at big-box stores, but also at locally owned establishments, such as Shea’s Place and Leander Beer Market, Zeno said. More dollars are expected to be spent locally when additional businesses, such as Randalls and Cherry Creek Catfish Restaurant, come to the area in 2015, he said. Austin Community College’s Leander campus, which could be open in 2018, will also draw more people into the city, Zeno said. “I attribute that [sales tax increase] to people coming in and spending their money in Leander,” he said. “That’s a great thing for us right now.”

Attracting a crowd

Although Leander’s sales tax revenue increased in 2014, its per capita revenue rate remained low in 2014 at $92.45, Cagle said, in part because many Leander residents shop in Cedar Park. Leander’s sales tax rate per capita is low in comparison to cities such as Round Rock, however, it is not unusual, Cagle said. “A lot of Cedar Park sales tax used to end up in Austin until 1890 Ranch [Shopping Center was] developed,” Cagle said. “The same thing is going to happen for Leander. We will develop our own retail as well, and then areas to the north of us will be shopping in Leander. And more Leander folks will be shopping in Leander when we have more options for them.” Forthcoming retailers include Randalls grocery store at The Shops at Crystal Falls shopping center, Cagle said. Randalls will anchor the 19,240-square-foot shopping center, and other retailers will include Crystal Falls Vision Center, Freedom Orthodontics, Jack Brown Cleaners and The UPS Store, said property broker Evan Dyer with developer Hunington Properties Inc. Other retailers will also move into the shopping center, but the city is unsure of which ones, Cagle said. Retail and restaurants are a large need for Leander, and the city hopes to attract such businesses as its population continues to grow, he said. “We’re glad [the sales tax revenue rate is] going up, but measuring on a per capita basis, we’re still very low,” Cagle said. “We know that we don’t have that many retail outlets, and that’s a big need in our community, both retail and restaurant.” To help attract even more dollars to the community, the city and the Greater Leander Chamber of Commerce & Visitor’s Center staffers are working together to host events. Zeno cited the monthly car show hosted on West Willis Street as well as the upcoming Old Town Street Festival in May as examples. A possible factor about why developers may be hesitant to come to Leander is because of its proximity to options near the FM 1431 and Toll 183A corridors, Cagle said. “If you have a retail outlet there, you don’t want to move 1 mile up the road to open another one because you know everybody in Leander is driving to you,” he said. “Until we get a little larger population, not a lot is going to happen.” According to demographers, Zeno said, Leander is expected to be the largest city in Williamson County in 20 to 25 years. “We expect that our increase in sales tax [revenue] is going to continue; barring some statewide or nationwide economic meltdown, we are going to continue to see increases,” Cagle said.

Growing forward

To prepare for the anticipated surge in population the city is already making concentrated efforts to increase its bandwidth, including hiring additional firefighters, building a new fire station and hiring an economic development director, Zeno said. “We’re just getting ready for the big push, and I think as long as we get ready as a city, I think it’s going to help us down the road when the population continues to grow,” he said. The economic development director position has been vacant for nearly three years, and Leander city staffers are reviewing resumes with recruitment and consulting firm Strategic Government Resources. An economic development director is likely to begin working at the city in April or May, Cagle said. The city has not seen the needed growth metrics to justify hiring someone for the position until now, Cagle said. “Until the right metrics are in place, it doesn’t matter who you have [working in economic development],” he said. “If the right metrics aren’t there, the business is not going to come.” Part of the economic development director’s responsibilities will include attracting new retailers to Leander, allowing Zeno to focus on existing business retention and expansion. Other efforts to get ahead of the growth include creating a comprehensive plan, which includes a blueprint for the city’s future land development. To help develop the plan, city officials are asking residents what they want Leander to look and feel like in the future through public meetings and online feedback. “The whole community will have the opportunity to have input into Leander’s future,” Cagle said. City Council could adopt the plan in August or September, Cagle said.

Transportation

Capital Metro, the area’s regional public transportation provider, is tracking factors, such as sales tax revenue and population increases, to decide whether additional transportation is needed in Leander, said Todd Hemingson, Capital Metro vice president of strategic planning and development. Capital Metro has been in periodic discussions for the past several years with the city of Leander about the potential to connect local bus routes to and from the Leander Station Park & Ride on US 183, Hemingson said. A few concepts have been discussed for this plan, Hemingson said; however, Capital Metro is not yet ready to announce plans. “We have service standards that guide where and how we deploy new service, and most of Leander, as it exists today, we do not see that it warranted local service,” he said. “But we have seen their continued growth, so we continue to track that. [We will] be working with city staff in the future about the potential for new local service routes.” The next step for transportation assessment in Leander is a corridor study of US 183 to Liberty Hill conducted by Capital Metro, Hemingson said, to examine the demographics, travel patterns and land use as well as where Leander residents are working. The study would also evaluate ridership and future growth projections. Hemingson said the study is likely to be modeled after the North Corridor Study conducted for I-35 from Georgetown to downtown Austin, which was completed eight months ago. Capital Metro attempted to receive funding for the study from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, but funds were not approved. Capital Metro is still seeking funding for the US 183 study. “As [Leander] continue[s] to grow and their sales tax base grows, that revenue stream could be a source for expanded transit in their community,” he said. If Capital Metro expanded services to cities such as Round Rock or Cedar Park, neither of which are part of Capital Metro’s jurisdiction, discussion about shared funding and partnerships would be necessary, he said. Leander and Austin, however, pay 1 cent of their sales taxes to Capital Metro for its service. “We applauded Leander’s forward thinking when they developed their [transit-oriented development, or TOD] plan several years ago,” he said. “Really that is going to be one of the key motivators … for expanded local services to get the kinds of land use near the transit station that are transit- supportive.” The TOD’s general concept is to create more walkable, mixed-use communities, which is where transit works best, Hemingson said.