Lakeway City Council members voted down a zoning proposal that would have allowed for a three-story boutique hotel in Rough Hollow after residents warned it would lower home values and drive up noise problems. The council voted 4-2 to deny the request from Legends Communities at its Dec. 15 meeting.

What they said: “There is nothing disqualifying about it. On the other hand, there is no compelling reason to grant it,” Lakeway Mayor Tom Kilgore said during the meeting.

The details: According to city documents, the land at 105 Yacht Club Cove currently has a “C-1” designation for office building use. The proposed change would convert the land into hotel use.

Developer Haythem Dawlett expressed regret in the council’s decision. 

“I think it’s completely misunderstood, but hey, we fight another day," Dawlett said.

A new hand washing-focused automotive cleaning business opened in Lakeway this fall.

The details: Texas Hand Wash is a family-operated facility owned by husband-and-wife duo Shawn Duncan and Carmen Crowley.

The business offers hand-performed automotive cleaning and detailing services, including exterior hand washes, full interior and exterior cleaning. Additionally, services such as paint correction, scratch removal and engine bay cleaning are also available.

• 1110 N. RM 620, Ste. A, Lakeway

Unlock MLS market research advisor Vaike O’Grady shared an end-of-year update on the Austin-Round Rock- Metropolitan Statistical Area's housing market, including where the MSA is seeing employment growth and projected housing trends. 

Major takeaways: According to Unlock MLS' year-to-date data on single-family homes:

• Homes spent 73 days on the market on average, nine days longer than 2024 YTD
• Total sales were down 5% from 2024 with 26,455 homes sold
• Median sale prices were down 1% from 2024 at $438,532

• Between 30,000-32,000 closed sales
• Between 10,000-12,000 active listings
• Upward of 5 months of inventory 
• Median sales prices of $410,000-$425,000

The Texas power grid is expected to hold up this winter, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said Dec. 9. This is due in part to “tremendous supply growth on the ERCOT grid,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said, amid an influx of data centers coming to the state.

The overview: Since last winter, over 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity have been added to the ERCOT grid, Vegas said. That growth, which largely comes from battery storage and solar facilities, could be used to power about 2.8 million homes during periods of peak electric demand.

Zooming in: Under most weather conditions, there is a less than 2% chance of a grid emergency through February, ERCOT found.

However, Texas could be in trouble in the unlikely event that a repeat of Winter Storm Uri hits large parts of the state this winter, although ERCOT noted that the probability of such a severe storm happening again was "well under one percent." The February 2021 freeze devastated an unprepared power grid, resulting in nearly 250 deaths.