Lakeway City Council met during a special session Feb. 4 to discuss the most recent updates on a mixed-use development that constitutes a second attempt at a project on a 62-acre lot on Lohmans Crossing Road.

The project, now called the Square on Lohmans, is in the same location as a previous project that was voted down by the city’s zoning and planning commission in April 2018.

Council took no action during the Feb. 4 special meeting but decided to pursue information pertaining to project constraints and costs and to subsequently schedule town hall meetings to get resident feedback on the development.

Mayor Sandy Cox said officials will work with City Attorney Cobby Caputo to determine what members of City Council and the Lakeway Zoning and Planning Commission are allowed to do pertaining to do local codes and ordinances.

“There was a lot of confusion over the last couple of years about this,” Cox said, referring to the previous development that was widely unpopular with many Lakeway residents due to perceived traffic and population density issues.

City officials will also weigh the pros and cons of the most recent presentation from Bill Hayes, Legend Communities chief operating officer, versus another plan, also from Legend Communities, not shown to council that features more residential square footage, Cox said. Council will then take what they’ve learned from those discussions to city-sponsored town halls to begin getting feedback from residents.

“Then, once we feel like we’ve got enough of that feedback, [Hayes] will start the whole process with building development services and ZAPCO,” she said.

Changes made since Hayes’ last presentation in December include the addition of some traffic-calming measures within the development; an increase in commercial space including office, retail and dining from 85,000 square feet to about 102,000 square feet; and a reduction of residences from more than 250 to 239. The square footage of an on-site park was also bumped up from 2.5 acres to three acres.

Cox stressed what Hayes presented to council Feb. 4 was simply another iteration of the development, not a concrete proposal.

“As [Hayes is] getting feedback, he’s making changes, and so I think it’s an opportunity for the community to see us having the conversation with him,” Cox said. “When they start to see [the Square on Lohmans] going out to town halls, they can see how it’s been reflected, and then when it comes through the rest of the process, they can follow it the whole way.”