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Serene Hills HOA asks city to assume median mowing; staff provides $85,000 annual estimate, council asks for more detail
Summary
Serene Hills HOA requested city help funding median and roadside maintenance; staff provided an initial UrbanDirt estimate of about $85,000 annually for mowing and related work but excluded irrigation and planted beds. Council asked staff for a detailed scope comparison and cost breakdown before deciding.
Serene Hills Homeowners Association asked Lakeway City Council for city assistance with maintenance of medians and rights-of-way on Serene Hills Drive. City staff returned an initial estimate for integrating that work into the city’s current landscape contract with UrbanDirt: roughly $85,000 per year.
Staff said the $85,000 figure would cover routine turf mowing, edging and similar maintenance work as part of UrbanDirt’s contract, but would not include irrigation maintenance or full flowerbed and shrub upkeep. The HOA’s current contract with a private vendor runs about $89,000 annually and includes a broader set of services (soil testing, fertilization, pest treatments, annual color rotations, debris removal and tree pruning visits). The HOA representative told council that the HOA intended to keep responsibility for irrigated beds and monuments and asked the city to take responsibility for mowing and basic maintenance of the areas inside the city right-of-way.
Council discussion focused on parity with other collector roads and comparable contract line items. Staff said city practice varies: for some collector streets (Highlands Boulevard, Bee Creek Road) the city performs mowing and related right-of-way work but does not operate irrigation or manage planted beds. Councilmembers requested staff reconcile the differing mowing frequencies and contract inclusions (the HOA’s current service includes multiple annual visits and horticultural work; city maintenance sometimes occurs at a different cadence) and to break down the line items so the council can see exactly what the city would assume.
Action and next steps: Council directed staff to return with a refined cost estimate and a clear scope: which specific tasks the city would assume (mowing frequency, debris removal, edging, tree canopy clearance) and which tasks the HOA would retain (irrigation, flower beds, holiday decorations). Staff also said it would review traffic-safety considerations related to hardscape and rock placements within the right-of-way and coordinate with Lake Travis Fire Rescue about emergency access.
Why it matters: Taking on median/ROW maintenance creates an ongoing expenditure in the city budget and raises equity questions between neighborhoods. Council emphasized the city should not assume irrigation repair or specialty plantings, and that any change should be consistent across collector roads.
