During the upcoming roadway improvements, a raised center median with turn bays will be added along RM 2222 to control turning movements to local businesses and minimize disruptions to through-traffic, according to Texas Department of Transportation documents. Source TxDOT

Proposed medians may hinder the ability for some local shop owners to earn a living

By LESLEE BASSMAN, Four Points News

Skot Ingram, owner of Skotz Inc., a welding company that fronts RM 2222 near RM 620 in Austin, said he remembers when his shop was the first building in Four Points. That was in 1967. Now, Ingram said a proposed roadway project along RM 2222 set to be complete in 2019 will render his company ineffective, forcing him to move to a new location outside city boundaries and beyond the reach of Austin bureaucracy.

“We’ve been here for 50 years,” he said. “I’m sort of the old-timer out here. The first concrete (of the Skotz building) I poured myself. Bobby Ray’s Texaco was on the corner. Mr. Little’s Gulf (gas station) was across the street. I was the biggest building (in Four Points) until 3M came in. (RM) 620 was a two-lane road.”

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By JACK CRAVER, Austin Monitor

City Council decided Thursday that a legal and political battle surrounding the Champion tract in Northwest Austin that has spanned two decades will be extended yet another two weeks.

Council voted 7-4 to postpone action on an amendment to a settlement agreement from over 20 years ago that would allow a developer to build a major multifamily housing development.

Council voted in November 2016 to approve the same measure. However, a judge ruled in September 2017, in response to a lawsuit brought by a group opposed to the development, that the vote was invalid because city staff did not properly post the item, in violation of the state open meetings law.

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By ZACH SMITH, LYNETTE HAALAND

The six LISD schools learned who they’ll regularly play for the next two seasons when the UIL released its alignment Thursday morning.

Vandegrift, Leander and Vista Ridge will form District 13-6A, a nine-team district with all the schools from the Round Rock ISD and Hendrickson.

Class 5A will be split into two divisions based on enrollments for the first time this year. Cedar Park and Rouse are in District 11-5A, Division I with Hutto, Georgetown, Manor, Pflugerville and Connally, while Glenn is in District 14-5A, Division II with Bastrop, Cedar Creek, Elgin, East View, Marble Falls and Weiss.

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