Planning Area Profile

Sometimes in Cedar Park, when traffic’s low and the kids are inside taking afternoon naps, it’s so quiet, all you can hear is the hammering of construction crews. In some parts of town, the sounds of homebuilding seem constant. In some parts of town, they are constant.

For Cedar Park, it’s in the numbers:

1960 population: 100
1990 census: 5161
Current city limits sign: 18,400

The town is booming, and there’s still room to grow in this Williamson County planned community. People consider living in Cedar Park because it isn’t Austin. Compared to its big neighbor to the southeast, housing’s more affordable, crime is minimal, environmental preservation isn’t quite as picky, and taxes are lower, even after the $24 million bond issue that’s expected to bring municipal facilities expansion and improved roads. Since Lakeline Mall opened in 1995 on the south end of town, most folks save their trips into Austin for special occasions ... and work.

Because, you see, Cedar Park remains a bedroom community to Austin: Proof is in the heavy commuter traffic on U.S. 183 and the absence of a strong local industrial base. Unlike neighboring Round Rock, which aggressively courted and won Dell Computers and Power Computing (to name two), Cedar Park hasn’t brought in the big businesses to keep its folks closer to home during the workday.

Instead, Cedar Park offers community. Families enjoy the new showcase Milburn Park and eleven other small community parks. The Leander Independent School District rates well. Twenty-nine churches represent eleven religious denominations. A strong library foundation oversees 33,000-plus volumes, scheduled to increase if the bond issue passes. And the YMCA just opened a local branch.

"A lot of first-time homebuyers move into Cedar Park," says Eldon McGill, a Realtor with ReMax Capital City North. "They like the small-town atmosphere and values, the friendly community in a friendly part of the country. Even much of the turnover in housing is people moving within the city."

What they don’t like is increased traffic, the lack of a unifying downtown or city entertainment center (for now, most commercial activity clusters around U.S. 183, which bisects the city), and sewer rates that average about $5 per month higher than in Austin. Most of the city’s newer housing -- mid-priced, single-family homes -- fails to meet the needs of those seeking low-income, multi-family or executive-level housing.

Fortunately, none of these flaws is fatal, or (besides the traffic) even permanent. Cedar Park’s continued growth is inevitable, but the city planners are thinking ahead.

"Growth is happening and there’s not any way to stop it," McGill notes. "All you can do is make it better."