With a unanimous Feb. 13 vote by City Council, Lakeway’s May 6 bond election will call for funding a $23,065,000 new police station to be located at the corner of Lohmans Crossing and Lohmans Spur.




A new Lakeway police facility is the focus of the city's May 6 bond election. A new Lakeway police facility is the focus of the city's May 6 bond election.[/caption]

“We feel very good about the cost that came back,” said project architect Denny Boles, senior principal at Brinkley Sargent Wiginton Architects. “That is a very real number.”


The new facility will add storage, a juvenile processing area, secure areas, additional parking, holding cells, a locker area for employees and other rooms, said former Lakeway Mayor Dave DeOme, chairman of the Justice Center Advisory Committee that was charged with determining the need and feasibility for the project.


“One easy way to look at this is with space," DeOme said.


The current police station is 9,000 square feet in size, and the proposed station would be 31,000 square feet.


The tax increase passed on to Lakeway taxpayers for the Lakeway Police Facility Project bond proposal of $23,065,000 amounts to $10.27 monthly for the city’s average home value of $472,001, or 2.61 cents per $100 valuation, City Manager Steve Jones said.


The project agenda reflected a $22 million bond; however, the proposal that passed will include a $1 million extension of Lohmans Spur to provide a third access to the facility, an addition that caused debate among City Council members who were concerned about the resulting cost increase to the site.


The road extension will allow the project to include a sally port, a private driveway that allows detainees to enter and exit the building with an officer, as well as provide direct access for employees, Lakeway Police Chief Todd Radford said.


Council Member Jean Hennagin said the city may be able to recoup its costs to construct the extension from the developer of the adjoining 80-acre tract, who presented its proposal to Lakeway City Council Feb. 14 (see Lakeway City Center, Page 21).


To better inform voters of its plans for the new police station, the city has scheduled one formal presentation at 6:30 p.m. on March 21 at Lakeway City Hall, 1102 Lohmans Crossing Road, and three open houses at the Lakeway Activity Center, 105 Cross Creek, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on March 27, April 6 and April 20.