Derived from a compilation of public meeting discussions, City Council workshops and staff input, Lakeway City Manager Steve Jones unveiled the city’s first proposed capital improvement plan July 8. City Council will consider approving the plan during their Aug. 17 meeting.

The CIP has been in the works for about two years, he said.

“It was an accumulation of ideas that had been out there for a long time in the different [city] departments,” Jones said.

Staff provided City Council members with a draft of the plan May 1, he said. Although the CIP covers projects planned for the city from 2016-2036, council will only approve funding for projects that will be completed during 2016-2020, he said.

“This is just a plan,” Jones said. “And since this is the first time we have formalized it in a document, it’s going to change. We’ll look at it every year. We’ll add some things to it, and some things may drop off.”

Funding for the projects will come from different sources, including the city’s parkland fund, capital reserve fund and bonds for the larger projects, he said.

“[Lakeway residents] can expect an opportunity to vote on a [tax increase],” Jones said of the funding mechanisms for the CIP projects.

He said the bond election for the first of the 13 proposed projects will probably come up in May and include a proposed $19 million, 48,800-square-foot Justice Center.

The proposed Justice Center—likely to be placed on the May bond election­—will amount to a 2 cent tax increase for residents, Jones said.

The finances for the proposed Justice Center were determined by a needs assessment study, Jones said. Staff is unsure where the new center will be located if approved, he said. At one time the city considered rebuilding the center on the same tract it is currently located on, but the property does not have enough room for the size of the new facility since much of the land is in a flood plain, he said.

One of the new sites the staff is considering for the proposed Justice Center—a 5-acre tract owned by the Lakeway Municipal Utility District located next to the Oaks at Lakeway shopping center—would require a road to be constructed to reach the center, he said.

“Right now we’re just trying to get budgetary numbers,” Jones said. “We think a site can cost as much as $2 million. We may have to spend as much as $300,000 to build a road.”

City Hall’s 3,000-square-foot expansion at its south end will accommodate more office space, Jones said.

New Hamilton Greenbelt and Canyonlands restrooms were approved last year, and the city will post the projects for bid shortly, he said. A BMX park is also planned, he said.

“[Children] ride their [BMX] bicycles down in the skate park, which they are not supposed to do,” Jones said.

He said maintenance on the BMX park will be a continuing expense similar to other gravel areas.

“I can’t think of a single major project that wasn’t included [in the CIP],” Jones said.