Matt Sebesta, County Judge, Brazoria County
In an interview with Invest:, Matt Sebesta, county judge for Brazoria County, highlighted the county’s rapid growth, infrastructure advancements, and economic diversification. He emphasized the strategic investments in education, healthcare, and industrial development that are positioning Brazoria County as a thriving hub in the Greater Houston region. “We are on the cusp of significant growth,” Sebesta remarked.
What changes or infrastructure development milestones do you feel have had the most impact on the county in the past year?
In government, things move slowly. To see real change, you often need a five-year timeline. Our courthouse campus development in Angleton has been under construction for almost five years and is still incomplete. Over this time, we’ve built a new emergency operations center and administration building. We also completed our Justice Center to accommodate future growth.
Now, we are remodeling space to house our tax office and county clerk’s office, creating a one-stop shop for citizens. This $180 million to $190 million project will be mostly complete by year-end. I’m proud of this milestone. With our population approaching 400,000 and predicted to reach 800,000 by 2050, we were busting at the seams. We are on the cusp of significant growth, and this development is our biggest county-related achievement.
Given the growth that’s projected, what makes Brazoria County an ideal place to live, work, play, relocate, or start a business?
Brazoria County is a microcosm of Texas, with a lot of variety. We have rural areas, rivers, an extensive coast on the Gulf of Mexico with beaches, small towns, and villages, and urban areas. We have eight excellent school districts, which I believe are driving a lot of our growth. Many people living in counties north of us are relocating here to educate their kids in our fantastic public schools, while keeping their jobs in Houston.
We also have an active petrochemical industry. While it’s in a bit of a downturn now, the industry has always been cyclical and is a big job provider. Additionally, Port Freeport is consistently growing, which is another driver for jobs.
Given the investments over the last decade in energy, petrochemicals, and advanced manufacturing, are there any specific industries you see emerging?
In the northern part of the county, the medical field is a major driver of growth. We’re seeing a lot of medical innovation and companies locating in the Pearland area, which is only a 15-20 minute drive from the Med Center. Many who work in the Med Center live in Brazoria County. The Brazoria County Expressway, opened in late 2020, has relieved congestion, allowing people to get in and out more expeditiously, which helps drive this growth.
One of our cities, Iowa Colony, just south of Pearland, had only a few hundred people 15-20 years ago. The last census showed close to 17,000, and it’s predicted to reach 70,000 in the next eight to 10 years, making it a fast-growing community. This growth is also driven by its location in Alvin ISD, which is an excellent school district that serves as a strong draw for folks seeking a quality public education.
Given the diversity of sectors and the range of opportunities available in the county, how are you balancing industrial development with overall quality of life?
We have an excellent parks department. It could always use more funding, but they are excellent at finding available grant funds. We do our best to keep our beaches clean and maintain some excellent parks, including Hanson Riverside Park. It’s an absolutely beautiful park that we’ve worked on in partnership with our state and federal partners.
We partner with our state as much as possible, including working with the General Land Office on coastal resiliency projects to protect our beaches. We just need a little break from hurricanes and tropical storms, because anytime we get those, we see a lot of sand and dune loss on our beaches.
As the community grows, how are you balancing the need for affordability, especially with housing, while still ensuring high-quality development?
Finding a balance is hard. We want housing to be affordable, but we also want quality neighborhoods. I want to see communities built that my grandkids will want to live in 40 years from now.
In Brazoria County, we want to see quality development, subdivisions, and builders. A change has occurred over the last five to 10 years, with more tract builders coming in, whereas the southern county is used to custom builders. We’re adjusting to this change in quality, but continue to stress that we want to see quality. We don’t want problematic neighborhoods down the road. We want places people will want to live for decades.
Turning to industry needs, how is the county partnering with community colleges and nearby educational institutions to support a strong workforce pipeline?
We support the colleges as much as we can, but their main partnerships are with businesses and industry sectors, which create partnerships with Brazosport Community College, UH Pearland, and Alvin Community College. They know the workforce they need.
We’re also seeing a move down into the high schools, with more CTE programs that help prepare young folks for careers. Not everyone is going to a university for a four-year degree; that’s not a perfect fit for everyone. We also need plant workers, electricians, and welders. These are great-paying jobs for young folks who want to learn a craft, and who have the ability and the work ethic to work in our petrochemical, medical, and service industries. We promote that as much as we can.
How is the county working with regional, state, or federal partners to advance shared economic and infrastructure goals?
We work with our delegation in Washington and our delegation in Austin. We’re also active members with the Texas Association of Counties, the Conference of Urban Counties, and the Houston-Galveston Area Council. We are involved in those entities to help work with our state and federal partners to create the right atmosphere and environment for us to have quality growth.
This not only applies to the business and retail sides, but also to having a livable, great community that people can take pride in living in.
Looking ahead, what are your top priorities for the next two to three years to keep the county competitive, resilient, and business-ready?
We continue to work with our emergency management department, maintaining a strong partnership with our local and state partners to build resilience and the ability to react to any type of event. We have an annual meeting with the mayors, emergency managers, and city managers to discuss hurricane preparedness. We also have a yearly seminar where vendors and insurance companies work with folks to prepare our citizenry.
We are also working on extending the Brazoria County Expressway further south. This has been a key driver for development, as developers are reluctant to build new subdivisions if commuters face long, congested drives. People who work in Houston don’t want an hour or an hour-and-a-half drive. We are about 50% to 60% into the design on that project and are looking to bid it out next year. This will continue to make Brazoria County an attractive place to invest in.
How would you describe the collaboration and support within the business community in Brazoria County overall?
We have a fantastic business community. We’re seeing a lot of solar development and battery development, as well as several peaker plants that can help bolster the grid when needed. These are all looking at better resilience. Both Centerpoint and Texas-New Mexico Power are investing heavily in the county to make our grids more resilient. This helps when we have challenges with power, such as during winter storm Yuri in 2021 or Hurricane Beryl last year.
We haven’t had a major hurricane in Brazoria County since two weeks before I was born. So we’re going to have to address that: it’s going to happen. We’re continuing to make Brazoria County as resilient as possible. I like the great partnerships we have with our industry, and it shows. Our industry here in Brazoria County supports all of our 501(c)3s.
