Following four years of development and discussions with the city of Bee Cave, Hill Country Indoor received approval March 24 from Bee Cave City Council to begin developing its indoor sports facility at 4317 Skaggs Drive. Council members and owner Jeff Kent discussed the differences between the city traffic engineers interpretation of the projected traffic impact around the facility and the impact analysis submitted by HCI. On behalf of the project, Kent agreed to put $116,805 into an escrow account, representing the estimated cost of improvements to adjacent turn lanes that will be needed to mitigate the extra traffic stemming from HCI. However, the city agreed to refund part of the escrow to HCI if a study following the opening of the project determined the traffic impact did not warrant the proposed improvements. The parties also settled on impervious cover credits, a maintenance plan, trail access and lighting on the property. "In order for this project to be built in Bee Cave, we needed to have more of the burden [on HCI]," said Kent, who is a resident of the Lake Pointe neighborhood in Bee Cave. "We are a sports facility built by four dads. For the four of us to cover out-of-pocket costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars is a big pill to swallow. And we swallowed a big pill today." Kent anticipates breaking ground on the project by late spring. He said the facility will be complete in about a year and a half.