Because of a space shortage in Lakeway’s City Hall, a portion of the municipality’s staff will soon be relocated into an adjacent portable building.

Lakeway City Council approved a special-use permit July 18 allowing a portable facility to be located in the open space between City Hall and the Lakeway Activity Center parking lot on the city-owned grounds at 1102 Lohmans Crossing Road, Lakeway.

The new portable building will be sized from 2,000-2,500 square feet and house the city’s code-enforcement officers, building inspectors and city forester, who is currently located in the public works facility, Deputy City Manager Chessie Zimmerman said. The project will also provide on-site storage space for archived materials—currently stored in a rented storage unit off-site—that need to be digitized, she said. Installation of the portable building will cost about $90,000, including landscaping, and monthly costs are about $2,000 for the lease, maintenance and utilities, she said.

The City Hall building was constructed in 2004 and houses the Lakeway Civic Corp. as well as the city’s administration, finance, solid waste, human resources, and building and development services departments, Zimmerman said. Although minor renovations have been made to increase the office space in the facility, the building is not large enough to accommodate the staffing needed to serve the community, she said.

“We will do our best to screen [the portable building] so it is not visible as much from the road and blends into the site,” Zimmerman said.

A special-use permit on the property is allowed for a maximum of five years, she said.