Pflugerville’s population estimate exceeds 50,000 residents

By Community Impact Newspaper Staff Wednesday, 13 January 2010

PFLUGERVILLE — The Pflugerville City Council approved a resolution Jan. 12 declaring the city has reached a population of more than 50,000 residents.

Based on the city planning department’s annual estimate, the population of approximately 50,850 residents officially changes Pflugerville’s classification from a rural community to a small urban city.

“The 50,000 residential mark is significant in many ways,” Planning Director Autumn Speer said. “Once a city reaches 50,000, state law allows the city to expand extraterritorial jurisdiction from 2 miles to 3.5 miles. In anticipation of this milestone, the Pflugerville 2030 Comprehensive Plan takes the 3.5 mile ETJ into consideration.”

A city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction is the land a city is allowed to annex but has not yet been incorporated into the city limits. Pflugerville’s ETJ expansion is limited to the east as Pflugerville is constricted to the west and north by Austin and Round Rock, to the south by Austin and Manor, and to the north by Round Rock, Hutto, and Taylor.

Once the Census department determines an official population of 50,000, Pflugerville will also have additional funding opportunities such as the Community Development Block Grants issued through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city’s additional responsibilities will include overseeing some traffic light maintenance currently provided by the Texas Department of Transportation and storm water management that is currently overseen by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The 2000 census reported 16,000 residents in Pflugerville, and the next census report will be released in March 2011 after the 2010 count is complete.