Buda Mayor Lee Urbanovsky said the key to his city’s transformation from a quiet downtown to a weekend destination is a consistent and predictable development process, in an episode of The Building Texas Show titled This Austin Suburb Was a Ghost Town. Now It’s Packed Every Weekend. Urbanovsky, who has lived in Buda for more than 25 years and was elected mayor in 2020, spoke with host Justin McKenzie about how the city between Austin and San Marcos is planning decades ahead.
The conversation carries implications for other fast-growing suburbs wrestling with how to manage growth without losing character. Urbanovsky, whose background is in development and construction, said consistency in the city’s development process is what he is proudest of. “We can do it slow if we have to, but we need to be consistent and predictable,” he said.
Downtown Buda has changed dramatically since Urbanovsky moved there in 2000, about a month before H-E-B opened. Back then, he said, downtown “was a ghost town after about 6:00.” Today he likes to sit on Main Street on a Friday or Saturday “just watch people, because it’s people I don’t know, which is amazing.”
The episode covers several projects that follow from the city’s long view: Garison Park, on land Urbanovsky says the city bought in 2016, which will open access to Onion Creek; Buda Championship Park, formerly the Sportsplex, expanded to eight softball fields with grandstands and turf improvements that hosted a soft-opening event with the Pony World Series; and 2021 bond projects on Goforth Road, Old Black Colony Road and Austin Street, which runs parallel to Main Street and could become a second downtown corridor.
Urbanovsky credits collaboration among the City Council, the Greater Buda Chamber of Commerce and the Buda Economic Development Corporation, which he says started during COVID when the city found ways to support small businesses. McKenzie gave “Monica and the chamber a big shout-out” for bringing business collaboration in Buda back to life over the last two years, a reference to Monica Davidson, CEO of the chamber and a Buda City Council member. Urbanovsky agreed that “the collaboration between the chamber and the EDC and the city council as a whole has made huge strides,” and said Davidson and Jennifer Storm, CEO of the EDC, “absolutely made a huge part of that.”
The episode wraps with live music at the Buda Amphitheater & City Park, including September’s Railcar Revival music festival, and Urbanovsky’s invitation for residents to get involved through the EDC, the chamber or by reaching out to him directly. He advises new council members to “do your homework and be available.”
The full conversation is available on The Building Texas Show podcast and YouTube. The discussion highlights how a suburb can use consistent policy and cross-sector partnerships to turn a dormant downtown into a regional draw, a blueprint that may resonate as other Texas communities confront rapid population growth.
