Of key importance to Cox was the council’s vote at its most recent meeting April 19 to direct city staff to begin detailed conversations with Stratus Properties Inc. on a proposal to extend Main Street beyond its current terminus at Medical Drive behind The Oaks at Lakeway shopping center.
As currently envisioned, Stratus would extend Main through its property along with building an apartment complex with up to 275 units and offering 26 acres to the city for a public park. However, before approving any part of such a plan, the current zoning agreement with the city and Stratus, known as a planned unit development, or PUD, would have to be amended.
In an unanimous vote on April 19, council directed staff to pursue conversations about amending the PUD to allow for an apartment complex rather than pursue an alternative proposal that would have involved building single-family homes and possibly a hotel on the same piece of land, Cox said.
“In the end, the City Council asked Stratus to work with [city] staff to better define the multifamily option,” she said. “We didn’t approve any PUD change. We just approved a direction.”
The city’s ultimate goal is to connect Main to Lohmans Crossing and Lohmans Spur. To do that, the city needs construction of a second, neighboring development that is scheduled to be built by Legend Communities. That project already has approved zoning; thus, specific site plans are scheduled to be presented to the Lakeway Zoning and Planning Commission in May, Cox said.
“That’s really good news, that within the next year, we are on the road to a plan that can get Main Street built,” she said.
In other business, Cox updated Lakeway citizens on other actions taken by council at its most recent meeting.
She said the council approved zoning for a housing development at Flint Rock Road and Wild Cherry Drive and approved $24,000 for working with a contractor to outline and define the city’s need for a recreation center that could be built and then operated by the YMCA.
The need for a recreation center is outlined in the Lakeway Parks & Open Space Master Plan, according to city documents. Additionally, Lake Travis ISD is also involved with studying the need for such a recreational center because the school district is interested in how it might provide an aquatic center for LTISD swim programs, according to an agreement among Lakeway, LTISD and the YMCA.
However, Cox said the agreement and council’s recent decision to hire Gro Development LLC is designed only to study the size and scope such a recreational center might require and not to actually build it.
“This in no way is an absolute vote that we are going forward with the YMCA,” she said.
She also said the council approved three parks projects that are budgeted for the current fiscal year.
Those projects are $300,000 to replace playground equipment, $130,000 for a mobile movie screen and $54,000 to build sidewalks at the Hurst Creek Sculpture Garden.
Of note is the playground work, Cox said, which involves the replacement of dated equipment at Lakeway City Park’s lower level with a newer playscape. The new playscape, which should be in place by the end of September, will include all-inclusive features for adults and children of all ages and abilities, she said.
“We are going to be removing that park down by the shore, and we are replacing it with a park that will serve ages 2 to 12 and then some,” Cox said.
