It was not a concrete breakdown of what Lakeway must do with its buildings and staff organizational chart heading into the next two decades, but it gave a general idea.

The company Huitt-Zollars Inc. presented Lakeway City Council with an update on progress made on its facility needs assessment during a special meeting work session April 8.

Greg Wine from Huitt-Zollars, Inc., a company Lakeway commissioned to create the assessment, provided the update and stated the full report should be finalized in about a week.

The update covered a range of city needs, from building square footage to staffing requirements projected up to 20 years in the future. Mayor Sandy Cox said as one component of the city's comprehensive plan, Wine's presentation helped officials get a better idea of how Lakeway might grow over time.

"Early last summer, we decided we needed to do a needs assessment, which is just looking at facilities and staff and services we provide today," Cox said. "This needs assessment was the first time we put pen to paper and looked at the growth of the departments, the growth of services and those facility requirements that we're going to need over time so that as we grow, we understand the cost and the needs."

The needs assessment is just a piece of the puzzle to help city leaders navigate through Lakeway's comprehensive plan, Cox said.

As one example, the city’s Justice Center on Cross Creek, which was built in 1974 and underwent renovations in 1995 and 2005, is a candidate to be renovated again rather than demolished and rebuilt, Wine said. The estimated cost would come in at about $425,000, and that price includes fixes to the building’s HVAC system, plumbing and interior finishes.

“The bottom line with the Justice Center is that it’s a good building, and it’s still got some life,” Wine said.

The assessment also covered Lakeway’s City Hall, and preliminary recommendations established within one to two years, the building would need a renovation at a probable cost of $152,000.

Within 15-20 years, the report states, City Hall will either need to be expanded or rebuilt to accommodate future needs at a probable cost of $10.5 million. The report also states within that time frame, City Hall will need to expand to almost 30,000 square feet, up significantly from its current size of 4,907 square feet.

The Lakeway Activity Center could need an extra 300 square feet of storage space added to it in the next one to two years at a cost of about $60,000, and in 5-10 years, a renovation could be needed to address a possible relocation of the Lakeway Parks and Recreation Department at a probable cost of $24,000, according to Wine.

Preliminary recommendations for the public works building show within 5-10 years, a renovation to address expansion needs could bring the square footage up to 11,500 from 4,210 at a probable cost of about $2.88 million.

The assessment also projected a need for a new building for the parks and recreation department within 5-10 years at a probable cost of about $3.07 million.

“We may end up tweaking some things, but basically, we’re looking at about three-quarters of a million dollars over the next two years,” Wine said, adding total costs for needs in 5-10 years could total about $7.88 million, and in 15-20 years, city facility needs could top out at about $12.3 million.

Cox said she sees the process of going through and understanding the needs assessment as not necessarily providing answers but rather indicators of what could be ahead. City officials and staff will continue examining the assessment and using it as a guiding mechanism moving forward, she said.

"I'm sure as soon as we get to digest all of these papers that we looked at today that we are going to have more questions that come out of it," Cox said. "This is a guided tour, if you will, of where [Wine] is headed. He hasn't given us a final report. This is a draft."