Lakeway approves lots, new hangers near airport
June 20--LAKEWAY -- The Lakeway City Council has unanimously approved preliminary plans and a zoning change to allow eight homes and new hangars on 7 acres adjacent to the Lakeway Airpark.
The privately owned Lakeway Airpark, a general aviation airport, is in a residential section of Lakeway. Lakeway Airpark Inc. owns the decades-old airport, and East El Paso Medical Group owns the adjacent land, known as the Lakeway Airpark South subdivision.
Deputy City Manager Chessie Blanchard said Tuesday that various proposals for the site were denied by city officials during the past decade, leading to a recent lawsuit filed by East El Paso Medical Group against the City of Lakeway. Blanchard said city officials and East El Paso Medical Group representatives had "intense negotiations" in March.
"Finally we've been able to get to a conclusion," she said.
Dr. Rene Arredondo, a partner in East El Paso Medical Group, said Tuesday that construction should start later this summer.
During Monday night's City Council meeting, the council also approved a special-use permit allowing two aircraft hangars, 8,000 square feet and 5,000 square feet, to be built on the west side of East El Paso Medical Group's property. Each hangar will be allowed to house no more than four aircraft.
East El Paso Medical Group agreed Monday night to install a 25-foot buffer between the edge of its property and a neighboring residential area.
As a condition of the approval, anyone who owns a home at the airport would be required to be an airpark member. A homeowners association would be formed to maintain the property, and seven of the eight residential lots would have hangars of some kind.
At the council's request, East El Paso Medical Group agreed Monday night to have the Federal Aviation Administration review the plans for the site.
According to its website, the Lakeway Airpark is an unmanned facility open seven days a week. Takeoffs and landings are not permitted at night, and commercial operations aren't allowed.
In 2007, a small airplane carrying three people crash-landed at Flintrock Falls Golf Course as it approached the airport, and the three people on board survived the crash. In 2004, a private plane carrying six people crashed into a home shortly after takeoff from Lakeway Airpark, resulting in a fiery explosion and the deaths of all on board. Three people inside the home escaped unharmed.
Contact Marques G. Harper at 445-3974
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