Marina at Graveyard Point

In December, the Lakeway City Council unanimously approved a development agreement for the construction of a marina at the end of Hurst Creek road in Graveyard Point. This area is now in the City of Lakeway’s Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ).


This project has had a long history. In fact, the precursor to the current proposal received a permit from the LCRA and the City of Austin back in 1987. This was when the area was in Austin’s ETJ. Over the years, the proposal evolved into a project which included a public boat ramp, restaurant and music venue. The City of Lakeway’s position has always been that such offerings would significantly increase the traffic through Lakeway and were therefore unacceptable.

About two years ago, a new developer acquired the land at Graveyard Point where the original marina project was proposed to be built as well as the project’s “entitlements”…namely the Austin permit. The City of Lakeway challenged the validity of the decades old Austin permit. With the prospect of legal action by both the developer and the City, the parties entered into negotiations aimed at avoiding a prolonged and potentially costly legal battle. I don’t know what the developer’s motivation was for entering these negotiations. However, now that the developer has signed the agreement, I would like to outline to the citizens of Lakeway, the city’s motivation.

The City attorney advised Council on a number of occasions that she believed the City would have a good probability of establishing in court that the Austin permit was no longer valid. However, she worried that we could not simply refuse to grant a City of Lakeway development permit for the marina project. Under Texas law, such a refusal may have resulted in the developer successfully arguing in court that the City of Lakeway had “taken” the use of his land by not allowing him, under any condition, to use it as he had intended. If the developer had brought such a “taking” claim to court and won, the City may have ended up with a sizable liability. Translate that to mean your taxes would have gone up to pay the award. Maybe significantly.

I believe the negotiations with the developer were very successful for the citizens of Lakeway. The City was able to negotiate a marina development agreement which, among other things, does NOT allow a public boat ramp, does NOT allow a restaurant and does NOT allow a music venue. By eliminating these options from the project, City Council believes that the marina will not be a “nuisance” to its neighbors or the citizens of Lakeway in general. In fact, for many Lakeway residents that own a boat, they now have another slip option available to them!