Costco will debut a new store and gas station in Liberty Hill March 11, according to a news release. The store will kick off its grand opening by opening to customers at 8 a.m., two hours earlier than its typical operating hours.

Learn more: The 152,000-square-foot warehouse will be equipped with its signature offerings, including food, an optical department, pharmacy, hearing aid center, food court and tire center.

The business will sell between 3,800-4,000 different products, including Costco’s brand, Kirkland Signature and other national brands like Apple, KitchenAid, Disney, Samsung, General Mills and Sketchers. The store will also have fresh produce, a bakery and a meat department.

What to expect: Costco is a membership-only store with three-tier options—executive, business and gold star—with memberships starting at $65 per year. The business has 146 million cardholders, according to the release. 

• 595 US 183, Liberty Hill

Leander City Council gave the green light Feb. 19 to move forward with an application to be recognized as an International Dark Sky Place by nonprofit organization DarkSky International.

Some context: An International Dark Sky Community is a legally organized entity that has shown dedication to preserving quality views of the night sky by reducing light pollution, according to Community Impact's previous reporting.

According to DarkSky International, light pollution also damages ecosystems in many ways, including making it difficult for animals to hide from predators and disrupting bird migration patterns.

The organization aims “to restore the nighttime environment and protect communities and wildlife from light pollution.”

Several other cities in Central Texas are already designated Dark Sky Places, including Liberty Hill, Bee Cave and Dripping Springs.

What happened: City Council approved the application by a 6-1 vote, with council member Annette Sponseller voting against the initiative.

“Awareness of our surroundings and awareness of nature is very, very important to our mental health," council member Andrew Naudin said.

The focus of a national initiative to build climate resilience at the local level in Central Texas will focus on three specific climate hazards, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions announced in February.

What you need to know: The Feb. 18 announcement states that the triple threat of extreme heat, wildfires and flooding in the area will be the focus of the Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator hub in the area. This comes after months of meetings with area leaders, assessment of area disasters and other information gathering.

What they're saying: This accelerator program will be the first through the CCES to include flooding, according the news release.  

"Although the harmful impacts of any of these hazards alone can be very significant, the compounding impacts when they overlap can be devastating," the release states. "Extreme heat can amplify wildfire risk, and heavy rainfall immediately following wildfire can increase erosion and flooding due to soil and vegetation changes."

Check out six upcoming or ongoing transportation projects around the Austin metro.

Upcoming projects
Austin Light Rail
Project: The 10-mile rail system will initially feature 15 stations along the alignment and all-electric trains running every five to 10 minutes throughout most of the day.
Update: Austin Transit Partnership approved a $60 million design-build contract for the first phase of the project Feb. 18.

• Timeline: construction expected to begin in 2027
• Cost: $7.1 billion
• Funding source: federal grants and infrastructure loans, Project Connect revenues, city taxes

• Timeline: 2026-28 (Phase 1A)
• Cost: $30 million (Phase 1A)
• Funding sources: federal funding, city of Leander (Phase 1A)