Lakeway City Council members including Mayor Joe Bain (center) on Aug. 15 discuss removing the city’s penalty cap on first offenses of its ordinance that forbids drivers from using mobile or hand-held devices.[/caption]
Penalty revised for driving offenders of Lakeway’s hand-held, mobile device law
Lakeway City Council put local drivers on notice Aug. 15 when members approved removing a $100 maximum penalty for a first violation involving the use of a hand-held or mobile device while operating a vehicle within city limits and leaving the fine for the offense at an amount up to $500.
The city adopted an ordinance in April 2015 making it an offense to use a hand-held device while driving a motor vehicle. The ordinance included a $100 maximum penalty upon first conviction and a $500 penalty on subsequent violations.
“That $100 limit on the first conviction was essentially an oversight on our part,” City Manager Steve Jones said. “That was in the sample ordinance that we were working from and it really wasn’t staff’s intention to limit those.”
He said city staff feels that it is appropriate for Lakeway’s municipal court judge to set the penalty for city code violations.
Although the minimum penalty for violating the hand-held mobile device ordinance is at the court’s discretion, the maximum penalty is set by state law at $500 for the infraction, Jones said.
Ordinance reviewed
With rain pummeling the Central Texas area throughout August, Rollingwood City Council again discussed creating a potential drainage ordinance at its Aug. 17 meeting.
Every house in Rollingwood has a drainage problem,” Mayor Thom Farrell said. “It comes down to what is my responsibility as a homeowner and what’s the city’s responsibility?”
He said the city has seen three events classified as 100-year floods in the past two years.
The council said it is focusing on drainage issues in streets and other areas residents cannot control, and the ordinance could help set guidelines for homeowners trying to limit the impact of water on their property.
However, specifics of the ordinance, including what kind of landscaping can be done to redirect water, how to evaluate the impact of construction and enforcement of the guidelines, are still unclear.
STR rules drafted
West Lake Hills Attorney Laura Mueller presented a draft ordinance to the City Council on Aug. 24 that would establish rules for short-term rentals in the city.
“The main purpose of this draft ordinance is to create a process to allow STRs to operate in West Lake Hills,” Mueller said.
Mueller’s presentation noted that the proposed STR ordinance would:
- require a homeowner to apply for and be awrded a special-use permit for short-term rentals at the cost of $250;
- suspend permits if the city administrator substantiates three complaints against the property in a 12-month period or if the house falls out of code;
- limit overnight occupation to two adults per bedroom; and
- prohibit non-owner occupied houses in West Lake Hills.
- “We’ve been working [to develop an STR ordinance] for quite some time, and I believe we’ve come up with a comprehensive plan [that] reflects the inputs of residents we’ve gotten at meetings and emails we’ve received,” Council Member Stan Graham said. “We also believe that the ordinance is keeping with our master plan residential zoning requirements.”
He said one of the reasons to establish an ordinance is to start documenting STRs, which would allow the city to understand how many STRs it has.
Currently, the city has no way of knowing who is renting out their homes for STRs and who the occupants arae, Mueller said.
The council will take public input from the meeting into consideration when evaluating the next draftof the STR ordinance. If the council accepts the draft in October, it will be presented to the zoning and planning commission and put to council vote in November.
Bee Cave adopts long-range plan for library
Bee Cave City Council approved a long-range plan for the city’s library Aug. 23.
The facility’s previous long-range plan—recommended by the state to be updated every five years—had been adopted by council members in 2007, prior to the library’s move from a temporary building located adjacent to the Bee Cave Police Department to its permanent site in City Hall.
The new long-range plan is the culmination of 18 months of research and collaboration between Bee Cave Library Director Barbara Hathaway and the city’s Library Advisory Committee, Hathaway said.
Although the library has worked hard to expand its digital programs, she said the current library space—at 4,200 square feet with an additional 1,000 square feet of storage and office space—is below the Texas Public Library Standard of 13,619 square feet.
The top concern for the long-range plan “has to do with the explosive growth in the area,” committee member Debra Opdahl said.
The library’s long-term goals—to be put into place in 2019 and 2020—focus on addressing staff’s need for space, including:
- developing an expansion plan for the existing library;
- conducting a survey of community needs;
- reviewing a 2014 architectural proposal for expansion;
- exploring leasing another building;
- exploring creating a new library; and
- exploring initiating a capital campaign to expand the library.
If the city is unable to procure additional space for the library and the area’s population growth continues, Hathaway said service in the facility will decline.
“Brick and mortar libraries are not going away,” she said. “[Libraries are] more about being a community center. There’s a tremendous amount of activity that goes on that has nothing to do [with] books.”
Bee Cave City Council Meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m.4000 Galleria Parkway 512-767-6600 www.beecavetexas.com
Lakeway City Council Meets the third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. 1102 Lohmans Crossing Road 512-314-7500 www.lakeway-tx.gov
Rollingwood City Council Meets the third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. 403 Nixon Drive • 512-327-1838 www.cityofrollingwood.com
West Lake Hills City Council Meets the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. 911 Westlake Drive • 512-327-3628 www.westlakehills.org
