Editing Sugar Land, Texas (section)

===Development of city===
As the company town expanded, so did the interest of establishing a [[municipal government]]. Voters chose to make Sugar Land a [[general-law city]] in 1959, with T. E. Harman becoming the first [[mayor]].

In the early 1960s,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.covingtonwoods.net/documents.html|title=Documents|website=M. Campbell|access-date=May 2, 2017}}</ref> a new [[Subdivision (land)|subdivision]] development called Covington Woods was constructed. Later that year, the Imperial Cattle Ranch sold about {{convert|1200|acre}} to a developer to create what became Sugar Creek in 1968. As a master-planned community, Sugar Creek introduced the concept of [[country club]] living to Sugar Land. Custom houses were built to surround two [[golf course]]s, and country clubs, swimming pools, and a private home security service were part of the amenities developed.

The success of Sugar Creek, buoyed by the construction of [[U.S. Route 59 in Texas|U.S. Highway 59]], quickly made Sugar Land's vast farmlands attractive to real-estate developers for residential housing. In 1977, development began on [[First Colony]], a master-planned community encompassing {{convert|10000|acre}}. Developed by a [[Gerald D. Hines|Gerald Hines]]-led consortium that became known as Sugarland Properties Inc., development on First Colony would continue over the next 30 years. The master-planned community offered homebuyers formal landscaping, neighborhoods segmented by price range, extensive [[green belt]]s, a golf course and country club, lakes and boulevards, neighborhood amenities, and shopping.

Around the same time as First Colony, another master-planned community development called Sugar Mill was started in the northern portion of Sugar Land,<ref>[https://archive.today/20130125131422/http://www.hoatown.com/sugarmillhoa] </ref> offering traditional, lakefront, and estate lots. The master-planned communities of Greatwood and New Territory, at the time situated west of the city in what was then its extraterritorial jurisdiction, also began to be developed by the end of the 1980s.

In addition to the development of master-planned communities targeted at commuters from Houston, Sugar Land began attracting the attention of major corporations throughout the 1980s. Many chose to base their operations in the city. [[Fluor Corporation|Fluor Daniel]], [[Schlumberger]], [[Unocal]], and others began to locate offices and facilities in the city. This resulted in a favorable 40/60 ratio of residential to commercial tax base within the city.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

In 1981, a special city election was held for the purpose of establishing a [[home-rule]] [[municipal government]]. Voters approved the adoption of a home-rule charter, which established a [[mayor-council]] form of government, with all powers of the city vested in a council composed of a mayor and five councilmen, elected from [[single-member districts]].

A special city election was held August 9, 1986, to submit the proposed changes to the electorate for consideration. By a majority of the voters, amendments to the charter were approved that provided for a change in the city's form of government from that of "mayor-council" (strong mayor) to that of a "[[council-manager]]" form of government, which provides for a professional [[city manager]] to be the chief administrative officer of the city. Approval of this [[Bill (law)|amendment]] authorized the mayor to be a voting member of council, in addition to performing duties as presiding officer of the council.

Sugar Land annexed Sugar Creek in 1986, after the latter community was nearly built-out. 
That same year, the city organized the largest celebration in its history, the Texas Sesquicentennial Celebration, celebrating 150 years of Texan independence from Mexican rule (DGA).