Council approves PDD rezoning for proposed Boggy Ford hotel with limits, developer concessions

The Lago Vista City Council unanimously approved an ordinance rezoning about 7 acres at 19708 Boggy Ford Road from TR1 to a planned development district, a change the developer says is needed to build a hotel, event center, restaurant and six casitas.

Mayor Pro Tem Norma Owen read the ordinance and recognized staff before a detailed presentation from the project team. The developer’s representative told the council the project would be a nearly $30 million investment, create roughly 45–55 permanent jobs and generate an estimated $368,000 a year in hotel (HOT) tax revenue plus additional property and sales tax benefits. He said traffic analysis projects the development would contribute about 7% of delay at the Boggy/Lohman intersection and described planned mitigation and impact‑fee commitments.

Neighbors and other residents offered mixed testimony. Several speakers urged approval, saying Lago Vista needs hotel lodging for school events, tournaments and visitors; opponents, including nearby homeowners, raised concerns about height, visual impact, drainage, tree loss, traffic and the project’s proximity to residences. Councilors pressed staff and the developer on parking, lighting, drainage capacity, sidewalks and how the height cap would be measured.

Councilors negotiated a package of edits before voting. The approved motion sets the approved maximum building height at 42 feet with a maximum site elevation of 1,035 feet mean sea level to prevent future grading from increasing building height; clarifies that casitas are limited to two units each (maximum 12 units); requires a building permit for the primary structure to be issued within 48 months of the PDD approval; removes a cap on tree mitigation and requires the updated Exhibit B‑1 to reflect the main building at 73,116 square feet and the event center at 27,842 square feet; and adds screening and evergreen shrubbery around the higher‑elevation parking to reduce headlight glare. The ordinance also corrects a typographical error in the sidewalk provision (changing “contagious” to “contiguous”) and adds language requiring loading/unloading to be behind the building and clarifying the eventual availability of a second access if neighboring parcels provide a connecting road. Council directed staff to prepare a clean ordinance reflecting those amendments for ratification at the next meeting.

Council members said the changes try to balance neighborhood concerns with the city’s stated goal of attracting commercial tax base that relieves residential tax burdens. Staff emphasized that site development permits (utilities, drainage, fire flow modeling and similar technical elements) must still clear the city’s review before vertical construction proceeds; those technical reviews and any required public‑works improvements remain conditions of final permitting.

The motion to approve carried unanimously. The council packet and staff presentation list the project as coming to the city with franchise and operational partners and with estimated roadway and water/wastewater impact fees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; councilors required those technical and administrative details be resolved during subsequent permitting and plan review.