Lakeway City Council on Nov. 16 voted to amend the Oaks at Lakeway PUD to force Stratus Lakeway Center LLC, the principal developer on the Oaks project, to build an extension of Main Street to the western boundaries of the agreed PUD property.
According to city documents, the completion of this extension of Main Street was supposed to begin when construction of a low-density tract on the PUD began.
However, no construction on that low-density tract has begun, according to Lakeway City Council documents, leaving the Main Street extension stalled for six years.
“If you read the PUD ... it very clearly states there was a road agreement. ... They had no contractual obligation at that point,” Council Member Louis Mastrangelo. “Unfortunately, no one from the city staff publicly brought that to council, and council never caught it.”
Council adopted a thoroughfare plan resolution in October that determined the completion of Main Street is critical to Lakeway’s transportation network ahead of any construction on RM 620. A proposed state widening project on RM 620 would cause congestion and traffic delays along the roadway, and an extension of Main Street would provide an alternate route for local drivers, city documents state.
The new amendment dictates Stratus must begin work on the extension project by March 15, 2021—just four months away. Construction must end and the city must approve the extension no later than March 15, 2023, according to the amendment.
Documents state Stratus rejected an agreement the city offered in early 2020 to begin construction of the Main Street extension. Lakeway Mayor Sandy Cox contended developers have been aware of construction timelines since that agreement was rejected.
“These dates have been known for a bit,” Cox said.
City documents stipulate the extension must be built to match the existing design of Main Street, with four lanes, a median, 90 feet of right of way, a shared-use path and a sidewalk.
