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Council approves Planned Development rezoning for proposed hotel on Boggy Ford Road with conditions
Summary
After a multi-hour hearing and public testimony, the Lago Vista City Council approved a planned-development rezoning for a proposed 78-room hotel and event center at 19708 Boggy Ford Road, granting a constrained height variance and a package of conditions including updated exhibits, sidewalk language, irrigation provisions and a 48-month building-permit milestone.
The Lago Vista City Council voted unanimously to rezone roughly 7 acres at 19708 Boggy Ford Road from TR-1 to a Planned Development District, clearing the way for a hotel, conference center, restaurant, spa and six casitas. The vote followed a detailed staff report, a developer presentation and more than an hour of public testimony both for and against the project.
The developer’s representative told the council the project would be “a close to $30,000,000 investment” expected to create “somewhere between 45 and 55 permanent positions” and generate an estimated $368,000 a year in hotel taxes for the city. Staff recommended approval with Planning & Zoning recommendations and several technical edits to address impervious cover, tree preservation and pool backwash standards.
Residents at the public hearing gave the council sharply divided views. Enrique Lopez, a 20-year resident and planning professional, said Lago Vista needs a hotel so residents and visitors can stay in town rather than traveling to neighboring cities for events. Constance Mendez, who said her home in 7 Porticos is about 1,000–1,500 feet from the project, urged councilors to “table this, deny it, or send it back” and to limit height to 35 feet.
Council members directed staff and the developer to make a set of floor amendments before final ratification. The changes the council approved include updating Exhibit B1 to correct the main building and event center square footage (73,116 and 27,842 square feet, respectively), clarifying that sidewalks will be constructed when contiguous with adjacent sidewalks (not a standalone “sidewalk to nowhere”), requiring irrigation infrastructure to be installed with nonpotable (purple) piping where feasible, and setting a firm building-height cap tied to elevation (42 feet maximum, not to exceed 1,035 feet elevation). Council also specified that a primary-structure building permit must be issued within 48 months of PDD approval.
Councilor Benfield moved approval with the listed updates and the motion was seconded and passed; the council asked staff to incorporate the changes into a clean ordinance for formal ratification at the next meeting. Staff said it will return the revised ordinance and exhibits for the council to ratify the exact drafting language.
