Lakeway holds third community dialogue on comprehensive plan, focuses on measuring progress and TxDOT changes

Gretchen Vance, mayor pro tem of the City of Lakeway, opened the city—s third community dialogue on the comprehensive plan and introduced Rebecca Leonard of Lionheart, the consulting firm leading the project.

Rebecca Leonard, a consultant with Lionheart, told attendees the plan is intended as a nonregulatory, vision-setting document and said the initiative will prioritize measurable actions and an identity-led approach. "This isn't my plan. This isn't our plan. This is your plan," Leonard said, asking participants to help prioritize strategies at a series of stations set up around the room.

The meeting focused on how the comprehensive plan will function as a working document that elected and appointed officials can use when evaluating capital improvement plans, development applications and funding decisions. Leonard said the plan is being structured so the city can "measure progress" against specific action items and that identity-related work from earlier workshops has been incorporated into draft elements such as a future land use map and thoroughfare plan.

Speakers and staff highlighted public engagement to date: a steering committee of "around 12 or 15 people" that has met monthly, three public workshops including the current session, targeted stakeholder interviews (including TxDOT and parties with historic preservation and environmental interests), and an online feedback loop for those who could not attend. Leonard said the process began last summer and is expected to wrap up in the coming months, followed by public hearings before the planning commission and city council.

Attendees were guided through a hands-on implementation exercise. Participants were assigned to rotating stations that cover future land use, the thoroughfare/transportation plan, vision plan catalyst sites in the foyer, and a three-table implementation strategy exercise. Each station rotation was scheduled in 15-minute increments; the implementation exercise lasts 45 minutes and concludes with a 15-minute report-out to gather prioritized strategies. Organizers distributed strategy cards that list the strategy name, which of the plan—s goals each strategy supports, expected benefits and limitations, and a relative cost and timeline (the cards give relative, not dollar, estimates).

The plan will also address recent changes announced by the Texas Department of Transportation affecting "06/20," which organizers said merits attention to make the most of the road expansion investment for Lakeway. The meeting included a set of small vision-plan displays for potential catalyst sites intended to translate plan concepts into physical examples.

Leonard and Vance encouraged broader participation via an online poll that replicates the workshop questions; city staff said that responses submitted online will be incorporated into the plan before the formal public hearing process.

The session was facilitation-heavy rather than decision-focused: no ordinances, motions, or votes were taken. Next steps described at the meeting are continued public input online, compilation of workshop results into draft plan elements, and upcoming public hearings before the planning commission and city council for formal consideration.