Bastrop County has experienced moderate
growth throughout the 1990s. The county, which primarily serves as a bedroom
community for those working in Austin, provides more of a small-town,
atmosphere compared to the traditional sprawl that has occurred in many
suburban areas. Recently, the filming of Hope Floats in Smithville, starring
Sandra Bullock, has exposed the county's charm to a nationwide audience.
Bastrop County is not just a place to live but a destination as well.
The county has much to offer in terms of recreation, including Bastrop
State Park, Buescher State Park, The Lost Pines, Lake Bastrop, and several
quality golf courses.
Bastrop County's largest employer is the
Bastrop Independent School District, employing nearly 1,000 people. Bastrop
County also houses a federal penitentiary, which employs nearly 300 individuals.
Feeding off of the growth occurring in Austin, a biotechnology cluster
has begun to form in Bastrop County. The University of Texas' M.D. Anderson
Center has a cancer research facility, which employs some 300 individuals.
Although lesser-known, the University also has a veterinary services facility
in the county, which conducts medical research on animals, Recently, the
private sector has contributed to the growth of biotechnology in the county.
Biocrest/Strategine opened a facility in 1916, which employs 130 people,
and the Coghlin Group has recently broke ground on a facility in Bastrop's
Industrial Park.
Bastrop County has a geographic advantage
that it can utilize. Its proximity to Austin allows the county to take
advantage of the city's workforce and services. U.S. 290 through Elgin
and State Highway 71 through Bastrop and Smithville provide two major
thoroughfares connecting Austin with Houston, requiring effectively all
ground transport between the two cities to pass through the county. In
addition, since the airport's move from Robert Mueller to the current
Austin-Bergstrom location, the county now has easier and faster access,
only 15-20 minutes from the City of Bastrop, to air transport. The combination
of these factors makes Bastrop County an attractive location for businesses
to locate.
While employment in the county is growing,
almost two thirds of the county's employees work outside the county. Less
expensive housing makes the county attractive to Austin workers who are
finding it more difficult to find adequate affordable housing. Bastrop
County has had few housing starts through most of the 1990s. However,
in the last couple years, the trend suggests exponential growth in housing
construction. In comparison, the number of units being constructed is
low compared to the IH-35 corridor counties. However, if the trend continues
as it has in the last couple years, Bastrop County's infrastructure may
not be able to handle such exponential growth.
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