Road is OPEN, Much More!

The Road is Open!  Friday evening, the contractor opened two lanes of Lakeway Blvd. over Hurst Creek.  It has been closed since last weekend because the metal culverts were collapsing that allowed Hurst Creek to flow under the roadway.  Here is a picture of the construction Friday morning before the blacktop went on.  Click on it to see more detail.

The original estimate was a little less than $450K and is expected to go up slightly because of some issues encountered - unexpected rain storms for one.  Expect the rest of the construction to go on for several weeks to finish up the sidewalls and guardrails.

Council will meet in regular session next Monday evening.  Here is that agenda.  There is also an addendum added and here is that link.  If you would like to peruse the documents included in the Council Members packets you can find that information here.  Have patience, it takes a while.

Be careful, a new law was signed into effect that requires drivers to slow down when passing TXDot workers with yellow light bars going.  It could hit you with a $500 fine, so slow down and move over!

Judge Madison talked to the Citizen's Police Academy about the "Texas Judicial System, Lakeway Municipal Court operations, and Traffic Safety Programs used by the court.  It was a GREAT program and a visitor from an Animal Protection Program helped him with his presentation!

 CBC will meet in regular session May 23, 2013 in Council Chambers.  Here is that agenda.

From Steve Jones:
The Lakeway Visitors Commission met this week and considered their first application for hotel tax funding.  The request was denied because commission members believed the applicant, Texas Bound for Golf, did not meet the policy requirement for matching funds.  The commission encouraged the applicant to amend the project to better fit the policy and reapply. 

The city prevailed at both condemnation hearings this week regarding the abandoned homes on Medalist Drive and Mettle Drive.  Judge Madison ordered the owners of each property to make all needed repairs and bring the homes up to code within thirty days.  He further ordered that if they were not brought to code on schedule, the city may demolish and remove both homes.  According to the process that must be followed, the homes will be demolished in ninety days. 

Our public works department is prepared to install “no through truck” signs on Lakeway Boulevard West next week.  We have been waiting on TxDOT to approve advance-warning signs on RR 620.  That approval has not been forthcoming.  Therefore, we plan to install signs within the city’s right-of-way only and enforce them as best we can. 

Joe Bain and I attended a regional mobility summit hosted by CAMPO this morning.  CAMPO was seeking the opinions of community leaders with regard to transportation issues.  The City of Austin demographer said that the Austin-Round Rock MSA will reach a population of two million in 2015, and that number will double to four million in another twenty years.  The Austin area is the fastest growing MSA in the country.  CAMPO offers to attend one of our meetings to present their 2040 Transportation Plan if we so desire. 

Last, but not least, we heard this week that the Flintrock Road project may be slowed down due to endangered species issues.  Since the western portion of the road is located within “unconfirmed habitat,” we cannot survey or clear any property until after the Golden-cheeked Warbler nesting season in October.  We will meet with the project engineers next week to determine how this will affect the project schedule.

 Chief Court Clerk Ruth Sandoval reports, “We had three court dockets back to back including a Trial by Judge for a driving while license suspended or invalid.  The court’s carpet was replaced last week, and we now have a nice courtroom with clean carpet.  For the month of April, we received 647 new citations, issued 171 new warrants, cleared 148 warrants, and collected $98,343.14 on fines and fees.”

Troy Anderson reported, “The building permit for the Harbor at Lakeway Assisted Living Facility located at 300 Medical Parkway next to the Lakeway Regional Medical Center was approved earlier last week.  While site improvements are well underway, vertical construction can now commence.  Also, this week we saw progress on the Fairlake condominium project on Lakeway Drive.  Following revocation of the site development permit the week before, the developer has put together an aggressing timeline for completing the project and has made huge strides in fulfilling those obligations.  The developer met with our city engineer on-site yesterday, and together they identified concerns regarding drainage and retention and the developer has agreed to make any and all adjustments necessary before laying sod.”

From Police Chief Todd Radford:
Congratulations to Lt. Ken Farr for earning the Special Recognition Award at Leadership Lake Travis Class 004’s graduation ceremony last night.  Lt. Farr participated in this evolution of the LLTC and represented the police department and the city very well.

We had two attempted suicides this week in which we had to conduct mental health evaluations at the LRMC.  There were two drug related arrests this week that originated on traffic stops.

Officers interrupted a large juvenile party at a private residence.  The parents of the child at this residence were in Hawaii.  Multiple citations were issued, and parents were called to the scene to collect their children.  We only had one set of parents upset about being called, and they stated that this is what kids do and we should not “bother” them.  The presiding sergeant on scene heard their complaint and respectfully asked them to leave. 

We adopted a new officer involved shooting policy, new active shooter policy, and new on body camera policy.  These will be added to our best practices training and manual.  These were all a result of collaboration with Abilene PD, the Texas Rangers, and Austin PD. 

The Citizens Police Academy enjoyed a great presentation by Edgar Smith on crime scene preservation and processing.
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It looks like another busy week!  Be safe and enjoy the preview of Summer!


As always. if you would like an email reminder when I make posts send an email to lakeway@bain.us

Have a GREAT week!

Joe Bain
lakeway@bain.us