(Seguin) — The city of Seguin is growing, and city officials say they are working hard to properly manage that growth while also taking Seguin to the next level. That was the theme during Tuesday night’s State of the City address.
Mayor Donna Dodgen and City Manager Steve Parker delivered the address to the crowd assembled inside the Seguin Coliseum and to those watching the livestream on Facebook. Parker says the growth is real, but it doesn’t have to be scary.
“We have actually six to seven people moving to the city of Seguin a day. That could be really, really scary for most communities. It could pull communities apart because they’re scared of the growth. But this community gets it. Cities, like Austin, they didn’t want to grow in the 90s, right, or in the 80s. They didn’t want to grow. Well, they grew. It is very, very difficult, if not impossible, for cities to stop growth. We do not have a lot of powers to do that. People have a right to develop their land. What we have the ability to do is to control the density related to that growth. There are pros and cons of the density and how dense we go. But there’s a lot of development that can happen within the community and Seguin has been on the forefront of that growth for several years now,” said Parker.
At this point, the growth is coming, and there’s little that can be done to stop it. Parker says that’s true both in the city and throughout Guadalupe County.
“If it doesn’t happen in the city limits, it’s going to happen out in the county. And the county has even less controls related to (growth. They have no zoning powers and so forth. So, it makes it really, really difficult. But what this community has told us, they’re okay with the growth because they see some of the benefits, right? The extra retail and commercial, they’re tired of driving to New Braunfels and San Marcos and San Antonio to do things and eat and shop and so forth. They’d like to see some of that retail come here. We have a lot of retail leakage. It’s about 43,000 people (in Seguin). There’s almost 130,000 people that shop in Seguin. And so with that, you’re going to start to see a lot of these new retailers that we’ve been seeing. We’ve seen that additional wave, right? The Ross, the Marshalls, then you start to see the Harbor Freights and the Boot Barns. And now you’re seeing Hobby Lobby and Academy, and now you’re seeing even the next wave. And I’m really happy to update you on some things going on in our community, right at the NewQuest (development). We are still one of the fastest growing communities,” said Parker.
Parker says the best approach now is to prepare for that growth by making sure the necessary infrastructure is in place and that the overall growth benefits everyone.
“You’re going to see how smart we’re growing, (and) how we’re bringing in that next level of development. We have a lot of cookie cutter neighborhoods in our city, but now you’re starting to see that next level of neighborhood, things that we can all be proud of and say, I like living in Seguin because of that. We’re going to have the connections to go from one side of town to the other and have that put in before a lot of the growth actually happens. You’ve seen other communities that did not have that ability to do that. New Braunfels and San Marcos struggled with some of the growth. I think we’re going to be very, very far ahead of it,” said Parker.
The city has a population of more than 43,000 people, and that number is expected to eclipse 50,000 in the near future. Parker says those new residents will need places to shop, eat and live. He says more retail is on the way, thanks to the Seguin Exchange project being developed by NewQuest, which also developed the Creekside project in neighboring New Braunfels.
“They’re moving dirt. It is happening. They’ve got leases signed. They’ve got plans submitted. They are moving dirt. It is incredible and it is so great to see in so many ways. This is a land plan of what they’re doing. We have KTH here. That’s in the upper right hand corner. The light industrial is being developed by a major light industrial developer called Lovett, that’s partnering with NewQuest. The front is the retail portion that we were going to start with phase one and have a phase two later. (But now it) looks like phase one and phase two are going to go at the same time. It’s so popular right now,” said Parker.
Parker pointed out an area on the Seguin Exchange map identified as “reserve tracts.” He says city officials are also excited about the potential of this area of the development.
“That is not fully committed yet, but we have some very high interest from people that would like to see that turn into some type of sports tourism or tourism activity. Things like a hotel conference center, championship baseball fields – where we have major tournaments that will increase the retail sales that go into that deal. There’s Crystal Lagoons pools…they would like the ability to have the right to build in the city of Seguin. They’re actually going to build a one acre pool in one of our subdivisions. I’ll talk about later. It is an incredible technology. They’re beautiful pools. But it’s (all) that next level of development,” said Parker.
Several well-known retailers and restaurants are expected to locate in Seguin Exchange. Stores like Lowe’s have already officially signed on. Other businesses are also in negotiations, including Target, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. Parker says even more retail is coming to that side of town.
“Just north of of Newquest on 46 where Pecan Parkway ties into Highway 46 before you get to Rudeloff Road. If you’re going north on 46, to the left you’ll see Pecan Parkway where the Greenspoint subdivision is. We actually had a rezoning happen about a month and a half ago that would actually bring… a proposed next generation Super Walmart. There’s a lot of advantages to that. I think that has the ability to track things in the future like Sam’s (Club). They like to be closer together. That has not happened (yet). They own additional property in Seguin, near Dixie Grill. But they wanted to build this super Walmart a little bit further away from their existing store,” said Parker.
While big changes are coming with those retail developments, Parker says the city continues to work to revitalize its downtown. Several new businesses have opened or are in the process of opening downtown. He says the city continues to move forward with efforts to bring a major development to the property that previously housed Wells Fargo Bank.
“We bought that building. We put it out for a (request for proposals) after talking to our community, that really thought a hotel downtown would be really great and we found a developer called Semi Development, formerly GroundFloor that actually thought the same thing and loved our downtown. And now we have an agreement with them, with milestones within the next year that we have to really have all these things buttoned up in order to do that. And with that, they’re proposing a 100 room hotel in downtown Seguin with restaurant and retail in it as well. Right there is the first rendering that we’ve seen and they’re continuing to update that. They’re actually building a financial forecast of how that hotel will perform. We’ve got commitments from either a Hyatt or a Marriott brand to be as part of the anchor for that hotel,” said Parker.
The residential sector in the city continues to grow. Parker says the city is excited about first-class, master-planned communities coming to Seguin. He says the Walnut Springs neighborhood being built along Rudeloff and Huber roads will bring hundreds of new homes while also creating a new amenity that can be enjoyed by everyone in the community. He says the developer, Bitterblue, has something special planned for Seguin.
“They’re going to put in a 20 acre park for our community, that can be very similar to Park West. It will not just be open to their residents. It’ll be open to everybody in our community. They also gave us land for a fire station. That’s where fire station four…will go. But this will have almost nine miles of walking trails. It’ll have a lot of interior pocket parks for their residents as well. It’ll be one of the nicer subdivisions in the entire city. It’s again a master planned community. Their amenity center will have a Crystal Lagoons pool. If you haven’t heard of those, they have the special technology liner that actually makes crystal clear pools. Those pools range from one acre to 12 acres. The pool they’re proposing for this development is over an acre large,” said Parker.
Canvas is another master-planned community coming to the Seguin and Geronimo areas. Red Oak Development Group will develop the 352-acre site near Geronimo Creek. Parker says this will not be another cookie-cutter neighborhood.
“They want this ‘live, work and play’ kind of atmosphere there, and they’re doing some really great things. This is the rendering of what it’s going to (happen there). A trail system (and) a lot of connectivity. These are the different phases. (It’s) about 352 acres, a little over a thousand lots going into this…higher end development. This is their amenity center that they’re proposing for that development. You can see how they’ve kind of incorporated keeping everything away from Geronimo Creek before you get to the houses. That’s where they’re putting their amenity center. But (it’s ) really a next level type development,” said Parker.
One of the many concerns that come up when discussing the city’s rapid growth is water. Parker says that despite the water woes of many communities in Texas, the city of Seguin is well positioned when it comes to its available water supply. He says the city can meet the community’s current and future water demands.
“We have the water. We have the water to serve this. We have plenty of water out to the year 2080. I know that’s a big concern, but this council years ago and this community invested a long time ago (into water). There’s nobody in the region that has a better water supply than the city of Seguin,” said Parker.
Parker addressed some of the city’s shortcomings as well. He says a number of citizens have complained about the quality of city streets. Parker says the city has been aggressive in trying to improve its roadways.
“We did have some third world country streets in the city of Seguin. We laid over 21 and a half miles of new pavement in the city and it has really been a major initiative of the city council. A neighboring larger community did a mile and a half of roads last year,” said Parker.
The growth means the city needs to meet the transportation demands created by all those new residents. Parker also shared transportation plans to help the growing number of people get around the city. Those plans include work already underway along I-10, State Highway 46 and State Highway 123. They also include a major expansion of Rudeloff Road, which will extend from State Highway 46 to State Highway 123 and connect with FM 20 at Highway 123. There’s also a project in the works to widen and expand Cordova Road.
All of those transportation projects are either underway or expected to begin soon. Meanwhile, Parker says discussions continue about a multibillion-dollar project that would completely change travel along Highway 46 between Seguin and New Braunfels.
“We have been working with Guadalupe County, New Braunfels, as well as the Comal County to have discussions about what it’s going to take to improve Highway 46 and turn it into a parkway — similar to Wurzbach Parkway (in San Antonio) — where you fly off of I-35 in New Braunfelsm (travel to Seguin) and you never hit a stop sign again. Major work has been done (on this). It’s in every funding plan that TxDOT is requesting money from, but it is a $2 billion project,” said Parker.
The State of the City address has become an annual event hosted by the city. City officials say it’s a way to engage the public on current issues and provide details about plans for the city’s future. In addition to the presentation, the city’s various departments set up booths inside the Coliseum so people could stop by and ask questions about city services. City council members were also on hand to answer questions and highlight the work being done in Seguin.
