Spotlight On: Nick Long, Mayor, League City

October 2025 — For Nick Long, the mayor of League City, to grow sustainably is a concept that goes beyond just the environment. “We need to make sure that the infrastructure is high quality” and the cost of it is “not being subsidized by the taxpayers so that we can continue to lower the property taxes,” he said to Invest:.

What are some of the main highlights, any key milestones for the city this past year?

It was another busy year. We put a little bit over 1,200 homes on the ground. We expect to do between 1,200 and 1,400 again this year. It’s a pretty robust growth, and that will continue between 1,000 and 1,500 homes for about another decade. With that rapid growth, we’re reinvesting in drainage and transportation. Those are the two big things: building out the roads and continuing to work on the interconnectivity back to Houston and Harris County.

We’re also working on a large bridge project going over Clear Creek, which will help with the overall connectivity, and then continuing to work on bringing forward the Grand Parkway, which is the biggest transportation issue that we’re dealing with right now.

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Could you share with us some of the primary objectives of your strategic plan?

On the development side, we’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple of years making sure that new development pays for itself and that we’re allocating enough money toward transportation, drainage, and infrastructure to support that new development. The whole southwest side of the city is being developed. We’re only about 60 % built out. The population right now is around 120,000, and at peak build-out, we’ll be somewhere around 225,000. There’s still a lot of room to grow there. But as we’re developing that Southwest side, we’re working not only on housing and transportation but also preparing the Grand Parkway for commercial centers as well. Everything from light industrial to commercial and office space will go on the Grand Parkway and the I-45 area.

Are there any additional ways in which League City is working to enhance the quality of life for these residents?

Quality of life comes in a variety of different pieces. Transportation and drainage are a big part of that. But we’re also working with various partners on grid resiliency and have recently done a couple of projects to move that forward. Quality of life can also mean parks and recreation. So, working on building new ball fields and parks for children, but then also passive nature parks, which serve two purposes. One is to preserve green space and some recreation, but then also help with drainage and preserve green fields that can serve the drainage purposes as well.

Can you discuss the programs in place to encourage entrepreneurial activity here in the city?

We’ve repurposed some of our real estate throughout town that is owned by the city for the development of business incubator space, which has been successful. It spawned a couple of businesses that started small, and now they’ve grown to mid-size businesses related to everything from biosciences to aerospace. It has also given people an opportunity, with lower cost for rent, to start those businesses here. As they grow and develop, they move out of the developer stage to do commercial real estate around the city and create jobs and innovation. The city has also been focused on supporting local businesses and setting up our purchasing requirements to incentivize the city to use local businesses where we can.

Are there any specific partnerships to align and support the workforce skills needed for the businesses in place?

It’s generally a pretty highly educated workforce, with a lot of engineers in both aerospace and petrochemicals. For us, it’s about making sure that those people move back to League City, and they start their life here and develop that out. At the same time, we’ve been working with UTMB through their expansion in League City to develop the commercial projects that appeal to people who are coming into the residency program at UTMB. We are also looking to build out a city center that’s integrated with the new UTMB campus on some of our land, where it would be commercial and residential, bringing in restaurants and shops to service that large expansion by UTMB.

What distinguishes the city from other cities nearby?

We look at that as a big part of the Grand Parkway coming through. Our part of the Grand Parkway, being the furthest Southeast point, connects the three major ports in the Houston area: Freeport, Galveston, and Houston. It’s about equal distance from all three. We look at it as an opportunity for some light industrial and corporate headquarters that rely on those ports to be located in Houston. It gives us a geographic advantage and the ability to move between those three ports. That’s where we think we can develop that industry further.

How are you ensuring affordable housing options and workforce housing?

I think we look at it a little bit differently. There’s a variety of housing options throughout the Houston area, and they are certainly more affordable. We’re probably targeting more of the higher-end to upper-middle type housing. That speaks to the quality of the school district. Clear Creek is looked at as a top performer throughout the Houston region, and it drives that premium in the area.

As we’re going towards build-out, that land just becomes more and more expensive. The housing stock is going to be from about $450k to $750k, more in that range. Not really workforce housing or a starter home, but I would say your second home, for people that are a little bit more established in their career and a little bit maybe starting their families out. That’s what we’re targeting, and I think for workforce housing, there are better locations that are throughout the Houston area.

How are you collaborating with other municipalities, with the county, and with the state to continue to push forward improvements for the region?

There are so many little cities like ours and the big one to the north of us. A lot of the problems we have to tackle are in conjunction with other cities and counties. We’re in two counties, Galveston and Harris, and we work with those pretty closely on a variety of issues, whether that’s transportation or drainage. Those two issues particularly can only be solved in conjunction with the larger entities and with everybody working together. We work a lot with Harris County Flood Control, and we do the same thing with Galveston County. They’ve been good partners in moving those projects forward. We also work closely with BAHEP, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, on the economic development side to particularly target industries and work with what the future is going to be and where that’s going to stand.

What is your outlook for the city, and what are some of your top priorities for the next couple of years?

Our top priority is to grow responsibly and sustainably, and not from an environmental side, although that’s part of it. What I mean is that as we’re growing these subdivisions, putting them in, we need to make sure that the infrastructure is high quality, that the codes are set in such a way that it’s not going to increase flooding, and that the economic incentives are set up in such a way that new development pays for itself. It’s not being subsidized by the taxpayers so that we can continue to lower the property taxes; not only the rate, but the actual dollar amount people are paying. Also, having it built in such a way that we’re not taxing people out of their homes, and that high-quality government services are still being provided. We have to provide the services that people value and still create that cohesive community without putting an undue burden on the taxpayers.

Want more? Read the Invest: Houston report.