Lakeway's Parks Are Being Redrawn One at a Time. Here's Where Each One Stands This Fall.

Two years after Lakeway voters approved a $22 million parks bond in 2024, the money is assigned and the order of work is set. That order decides when each park changes and how much residents can still influence. The smallest project is done. The most expensive one is still in design. And the city is inviting public comment on just two pieces of it right now.

For anyone who walks a dog at City Park, waits for pool season or plays tennis at Live Oak, the sequence answers a more practical question than the budget does. It tells you which of your parks changes next.

Five Projects, One Queue

Community Impact reported in December 2025 how the bond money was divided. The five amounts add up to $21,998,771. As of early October 2026, here is where each one stands:

1. Lakeway Activity Center Playscape: $508,771. Finished in September 2025 and open.
2. Butler Rough Hollow Park: $2.1 million. Under construction, with opening expected next summer.
3. Lakeway City Park: $10.65 million. In design. Design is due by January, and construction bidding is planned for fall 2027.
4. Swim Center Park: $6.02 million. Expected to start the selection process for an engineering firm by early 2027.
5. Live Oak Tennis Courts: $2.72 million. Scheduled after the Swim Center, with no completion date set.

The two largest checks, for City Park and the Swim Center, make up close to three-quarters of the bond. Neither has reached construction. The money is ready. The timing comes from the city handling one big design and engineering effort before starting the next. The December 2025 update put it in those terms: City Park design comes before Swim Center work, and Live Oak Tennis Courts follow after that.

The Smallest Project Went First

The Activity Center Playscape was the cheapest item on the list, and it gave the city an early finished project. Community Impact described it as an all-inclusive playground with natural play features for a range of ages, plus new landscaping and picnic areas. The Rotary Club of Lakeway/Lake Travis set aside $50,000 for it and presented the gift at the August 18, 2025, City Council meeting.

That gift covers roughly a tenth of the playscape's budget. A local service club's donation can make a real difference on a project this size. On a $10 million one, it can't.

Butler Rough Hollow Is Still on Schedule, Mostly

Butler Rough Hollow Park is the one new park in the bond. It shows how dates move even on a project that is going smoothly. In December 2025 the expected finish was spring 2027. The city's September 18, 2026 newsletter now says next summer. The plan calls for an amphitheater, a mountain-bike course, a multisports field, a playground and a ninja course. A July 2025 version of the plan also listed six hoop stations and an accessible, shaded playground.

We covered the longer history of that park in our post on how Rough Hollow's lake, restaurant and park timelines came together. For the rest of the bond, Butler matters because it comes first. City Park construction is expected to start only after Butler opens.

City Park Holds Nearly Half the Money

At $10.65 million, the Lakeway City Park redesign accounts for almost half the bond by itself. Community Impact's October 2 article rounded that figure to $10.6 million. The city is working with the engineering and design firm Dunaway.

The concepts shown so far would change how people get around the park, not just add equipment:

• A full loop for vehicle traffic
• A looped pedestrian trail
• A new skate park and pump track
• New pickleball courts
• Lake overlook areas
• A relocated sand volleyball court
• A relocated dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs

The dog park change affects current users most directly. The city's parks pages list a Bark Park under City Park. In the current concept it moves to a new spot and gets split by dog size. Pickleball courts and a pump track would be new to the park. The new vehicle and walking loops would change how a visit to the water works.

These are still conceptual drawings. Design is expected to wrap by January 2027, and construction won't go out to bid until fall 2027. That leaves a long stretch where today's City Park stays as it is.

The Open Question Is a Specific One

The city held a public meeting on Tuesday, September 15, on City Park and the other bond projects. The September 18 newsletter that followed was precise about what input it wants. It asked for feedback "specifically on the proposed skate park and bike skills portions" of the project.

That is the part of the design still open to public comment. The 2024 Parks Bond page has the presentation and video from the meeting, a feedback form for the skate and bike-skills concepts, and updates on all five projects. Questions go to [email protected].

The timing has a practical side. Comments carry the most weight before design is finished, and design is expected to finish by January. A skate park and pump track are the kind of features where the people who would use them know things a site plan can miss: how much flat space beginners need, where riders tend to wait, how the area connects to the walking loop.

The Swim Center Waits, and Still Gets a Saturday

The Swim Center comes after City Park in the queue, with more than $6 million set aside. Lakeway Parks and Recreation Director Andra Bennett said the city is looking for a "unique engineering firm" for the pool project. A request for qualifications could go out by early 2027. Bennett described the pace this way:

"We're trying to get these [projects] cranked out as fast as we can, and I say that with a caveat of making sure that we're doing quality parks and park projects in the process."

Hiring an engineering firm is an early step. The project then still needs design, bidding and construction. So the Swim Center residents know now, which we wrote about in our late-summer Lakeway post, will stay largely as it is for some time.

It is also hosting one of the busiest days on the October calendar. The Floating Pumpkin Patch takes over the Lakeway Swim Center on Saturday, October 17, at 9 a.m. Families can swim, decorate a pumpkin and enter a contest with prizes and snacks. That evening the Witches Ride starts at 6 p.m. down Lakeway Drive. People can join the costume parade or collect candy along the route, and a carnival follows at Lakeway City Hall.

That puts two city events on the same Saturday, one of them at a facility whose $6.02 million rebuild hasn't started. The Live Oak Tennis Courts come after it, still without a completion date.

If you're thinking about how these park projects affect a home near City Park, Butler Rough Hollow or the Swim Center, Sarah McAloon can talk through the timelines and what they mean for your plans. Schedule Your Personal Consultation, or browse more local updates on our Lakeway neighborhood page.