Here are highlights:
Housing permits have doubled from last year,” he said. “The sales tax is up 4.4 percent over last year.”
Airgas is adding a facility that will employee 17 people when it is operational at the end of the year, and CenterPoint Energy is consolidating two locations to Alvin, according to Buehler.
“Local entrepreneurs are investing in the community,” Buehler added. Big Kuntry Indoor Range is now open and Wellborne Cinema 4 is opening soon, he noted.
“Of course, the growth brings additional challenges such as traffic issues,” Buehler said.
The city and the Texas Department of Transportation are working on solutions to traffic flow, according to Beuhler.
“We will be making needed changes relating to the bypass and Mustang intersection, and the bypass and CR 1462. For example, motorists now face two traffic lights when turning from the bypass onto 1462 heading east or west.
The left turn lanes on the bypass will be moved over to eliminate one of the two traffic lights, he said.
Don Sapaugh, the president of University General Health System, told the gathering that plans to build a hospital in Alvin are back on track.
He said that 20 acres have already been dedicated to a medical facility, and it will be built in three phases.
“The first phase will have 10-beds, a 10-bay emergency room and an imagining room. Phase 2 will have an ICU and operating rooms. Phase 3 will add beds,” Sapaugh said.
Other items discussed were the Alvin Municipal Shooting Range and Youth Development Center that the city is currently pursuing and the innovative programs Police Chief Robert Lee has brought to the city.
