Sugarland is doing something right and our elected officials need to take a much closer look. I'm not saying they need to "copy" what has worked so well for Sugarland, but there may be a few ideas they can get from the way Sugarland does things.

The ugly truth is, that without zoning, our elected officials can disregard their fiduciary responsibilities. To the victors belong the spoils.

Again, a carpetbagger neo-journalist does not understand the simple dynamics of the region he now resides.

"Fatal Sugar" anyone?

Gabe
I lived and worked in Fort Bend County from 1975 to 1999. I worked for a local utility company and Sugar Land was in my service area.
Sugar Land was a small community in 1975 and we had about 1850 customers at that time. When I retired in 1999 our customer count was approximately 17,000.
The growth of Sugar Land has been very unique and it has been one of the fastest growing communities in the Country. Most of the infrastructure in Sugar Land has been built in the last 35 years. City government has been run by conservative types of folk and business has been encouraged to develop there.
Any comparison with Victoria would be like comparing "apples and oranges". Life in Sugar Land is fast pace and much different than Victoria. I chose to retire in Victoria partly because I wanted to slow down and smell the roses.

Please remember that Sugarland in the 90's was the outer ring of Houston. Just like all big cities Houston has grown from the center out in all directions. This accounts for the large population Growth in the 90's and the outer ring is continuing to grow all the was to Richmond now.

So please don't try and compare Victoria to Sugarland. Victoria is not suburb of a larger city, and will never have a similar growth rate.

Vicoria will have to stand on it's own and the only way to do that is to lower taxes to attract big business.

Oh great. Let's just put more power in the hands of bureaucrats.

What does shopping have to do with Gabe's blog? It's about the pros/cons of zoning and master-planned communities.

I wish there was a master-planned community in the Victoria area. I would certainly consider living there.

As for zoning, I think that a certain amount would be beneficial. In most parts of town, I suppose, a person could decide to open up a business right next to where you live. That could result in more traffic, and strangers, in what was a "residential" neighborhood. With zoning, though, you have to be careful not to go overboard and you must balance property rights of the owners with what's best for the community. Not an easy task.

i love sugarland.its nice and pretty.i think everyone in victoria takes trips down there to shop very often. it would be a great place to move too also!

Now Legion, let's be fair....not all city employees,only some....

LOL, yup let's compare like I did on another post, city property tax rate less than half of Victoria s, much more population growth, ie: infrastructure needs, not to mention a median income almost 3 times higher than Victoria s. But let's go ahead and use Sugarland as a benchmark to pay city of Victoria employees.