Zach Goodlander, City Manager, City of Fulshear

In an interview with Invest:, Zach Goodlander, city manager of the city of Fulshear, discussed the city’s rapid population growth, infrastructure priorities, commercial development, and long-term planning. “With all our growth, I do not want people to leave because we cannot maintain what we have built,” Goodlander said.

How has Fulshear’s rapid growth changed the city’s priorities?

I have been with the city of Fulshear since early 2019. In that time, the population has more than doubled. In early 2019, we were at about 15,000 people inside the city limits. Now, we are well over 40,000, and in our market area, we are well above 50,000 to 60,000.

Our priorities, however, remain the same. They have always been about having a diversified tax base and making sure our growth is sustainable. We have a lot of new roads, houses, and infrastructure, and we already know that in 20 or 30 years we are going to have to replace that infrastructure.

We have an opportunity to make sure it is built right, maintained properly and that when the time comes to replace it, we can financially do so. We have tried to make smart investments, and right now we are trying to promote commercial growth.

We have a lot of good residential growth, but we need sales tax revenue and businesses rather than just what we call rooftops. Fulshear has been a great place for top executives to live. What we want going forward is for them to bring their businesses to Fulshear as well.

What infrastructure priorities are most important as Fulshear continues to grow?

A lot of our infrastructure growth happens through municipal utility districts, or MUDs. They work on behalf of developers to build roads, water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. Those assets are then turned over to the city for long-term ownership and maintenance.

MUDs are typically used in unincorporated areas, but we have taken what I think is a novel approach by having MUDs within the city. That creates a tool for developers and future homeowners to get infrastructure built, while long-term ownership and services remain with the city.

For the city specifically, the main focus right now is water and wastewater. Where there are gaps, we want to get those lines built. I feel like we have caught up on the water side, and now we are doing the same with wastewater.

We are also focused on downtown Fulshear. Downtown has existed since the 1800s, but there has never been much development there. Much of the growth over the last 10 to 20 years has happened in a ring around downtown rather than in the center.

Our emphasis is on rebuilding roads downtown and putting the infrastructure in place so businesses can build there and feel confident their investment makes sense. Despite our master-planned communities, we still want people to identify with Fulshear. Downtown can help create that through a place where people can park, shop, and walk from one business to another.

How does the capital improvement dashboard support transparency and investment confidence?

For one, it is about transparency. We have a lot of good news to share, so why not put it out there for people to see themselves?

We try to make the dashboard user-friendly so people can see timelines, whether projects are on track, whether they are within budget, and where they are located on a map.

As a resident, you can see where your tax dollars are going, which creates accountability. As a business owner or developer, you can feel more confident making an investment because you can see that the infrastructure in front of your property is going to change. We are completely upfront with the information pertaining to those projects.

How are you balancing Fulshear’s historic character with new development?

It is a challenge, but a worthwhile one. While the community has existed for a long time, the population was historically small, so there were not that many buildings. There was not a historic downtown line of commercial buildings that we could simply renovate.

A lot is being built from scratch, so we have tried to create a regulatory structure where new buildings have an older character. Buildings might be closer to the street, parking may be in the rear, and we encourage windows and articulation of the facade. Those planning principles can support walkability, mixed uses, and local character.

Many of our master-planned communities have a farmhouse-type architectural style, with things like silos, windmills, metal roofs, and board-and-batten design. We have tried to lean into that so new commercial buildings have a similar style. The goal is to create consistency and character so people can recognize when they have entered Fulshear.

How is the city expanding amenities to keep pace with residential growth?

We have been fortunate to have strong master-planned community builders. They have brought in good builders, constructed roads to a higher standard than the minimum necessary, and created amenities within their neighborhoods.

There are still gaps we have to fill. We may have great neighborhood pools and playgrounds, but there is still a need for regional parks, including baseball and soccer fields.

We are doing that largely by partnering with developers. Eagle Landing Park, for example, is about 30 acres of soccer fields. It has been completed and opened, and it was paid for through collaboration between the city and the area developer without city tax dollars.

More recently, we opened another park focused on baseball. We are also preparing to start construction on an amphitheater where we can hold city events, fireworks, concerts, and other activities that bring the community together.

How important are regional partnerships to Fulshear’s long-term growth?

We have partners everywhere. The school districts are one example. One of the things that drives people to move to Fulshear is the quality of the school districts. We are split between Katy Independent School District and Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, and we share demographic information with them, including growth projections and where new schools may need to be located.

With Fort Bend County, one of the major projects underway is the Westpark Tollway. It is an important commuter corridor into Houston, and it is now within the city limits of Fulshear. It will continue through Fulshear and farther west toward the Brazos River.

We coordinate with the county on what infrastructure is needed and what the tollway should look like. The county may build the tollway, while the city comes in with landscaping and beautification efforts. That way, we are helping each other’s dollars go further.

We are also having conversations around Highway 36A, which would create a new route from the Gulf Coast around the western edge of the Houston metropolitan area and toward Bryan-College Station. It would come through the Fulshear area.

What will success look like for Fulshear over the next two to three years?

Success would mean having a diversified tax base, promoting more commercial development, and attracting more sales tax-generating businesses to Fulshear. Some of that will happen naturally as businesses follow the rooftops, but we still have to work proactively to promote it.

We also need to make sure we are not only caught up but ahead on utilities, particularly water and wastewater.

Third, we need to make sure we are meeting other demands for services. Do we have enough police services? Do we have enough public works staff to maintain roads? I am focused on sustainability.

It is great that we have so much new infrastructure, but we cannot ignore the day when it needs to be fixed or replaced. I want to make sure we are planning 25 or 30 years in advance so we can ultimately do that. With all our growth, I do not want people to leave because we cannot maintain what we have built.

What else should business leaders understand about Fulshear’s growth?

Fulshear’s demographics are unique. It has started to diversify, but historically, many residents have been associated with oil and gas, including executives and management, as well as healthcare executives and managers commuting from Fulshear to the Texas Medical Center and the Energy Corridor.

People are coming to Fulshear because of quality builders, quality developments, and the school districts. I also think Fulshear has a good brand name. People hear Fulshear and think it is a nice place where they want to be.

One of our big focuses, which comes back to tax diversification, is making sure that little by little, the people who live here can bring their jobs to Fulshear as well. Not only would that help residents’ commute times, but it would also help with tax-base diversification.