The cheapest project in Lakeway's 2024 parks bond is the only one finished. Next in line is Butler Rough Hollow Park, the second-cheapest of the five projects. The two largest, City Park and the Swim Center, account for about three of every four bond dollars, and neither will see construction crews before late 2027 at the earliest. The order follows a sequence the city has set out in public updates, and it tells you which parks around town will look different next summer and which ones won't change for a while.

Voters approved the bond on May 4, 2024, with Proposition A passing 2,623 to 1,243, according to the Lake Travis View's election report. Here are the five projects, the money attached to each, and where each one stands as of late October 2026.

The allocations add up to $21,999,878.88. City Park and the Swim Center together hold about $16.67 million of that, roughly 76 percent. Add Live Oak and nearly 88 percent of the bond sits in projects with no construction start date. The finished project accounts for a little over 2 percent.

The playscape came first because it was small

The Activity Center playscape wrapped up in September 2025, and the city advertised a ribbon-cutting for September 27. Its bond allocation was $508,771.20, and the Rotary Club of Lakeway/Lake Travis added a $50,000 donation, Community Impact reported. The project included inclusive play features, new landscaping, and picnic areas.

A playscape at an existing facility doesn't need a new site plan, a road loop, or an aquatic engineer, so it was the easiest bond project to finish. More than a year later it is still the only one complete. The rest of the bond is moving at the pace of bigger projects, each with its own design, bid, and council approvals.

Butler Rough Hollow Park shows what each step costs in time

Butler Rough Hollow Park is the bond's only brand-new park, and it's the clearest record of how long each stage takes. Of all five projects, it went furthest from concept to construction.

In July 2025, the council unanimously approved a revised plan for Butler after scaling back the design to address cost. At that meeting, the overall plan was estimated at $2.7 million, against a bond allocation of about $2.1 million. In November 2025, the council approved a separate $430,738 purchase of playground equipment, ninja-course equipment, and artificial turf. On March 16, 2026, a 5-1 vote let the city manager negotiate a project-management contract of up to $253,550 with Pape-Dawson Consulting Engineers, Community Impact reported.

On April 20, 2026, the council awarded the construction contract to Millis Development and Construction for $2,072,196, the lowest responsive bid of nine, according to Community Impact. The city held its groundbreaking ceremony on July 6, 2026, at 708 Tomichi Trail. The construction contract allows 300 calendar days after notice to proceed, and city officials expect the park to open in summer 2027.

Here's what the current plan puts on the site:

• An amphitheater with limestone seating
• A mountain-bike course
• A basketball area with six hoop stations
• A multisport field for baseball and soccer
• A ninja course
• An accessible, shaded playground

The construction contract, the equipment purchase, and the project-management authorization each went through the council separately, so they don't add up to a single final price. The timeline is the more useful number. Butler went from a revised plan in July 2025 to a groundbreaking in July 2026, and the expected opening is about a year after that. Roughly two years from approved plan to open gate is the pace the city has managed so far on a $2.1 million park.

City Park is the biggest project, and its schedule has already slipped

Lakeway City Park carries $10.65 million, nearly half the bond. In November 2025, the council approved negotiating a $1.02 million design-services contract with Dunaway, the engineering and design firm that drew up the conceptual plans before the 2024 vote, Community Impact reported. The timeline in that update had the project going out for bid by March 2027, with construction starting in June 2027.

The September 2026 community update moved those dates back. As of Community Impact's October 2 report, the city and Dunaway plan to finish design by January 2027, and the construction bid is now expected in fall 2027. That's about six months later than the bid date set less than a year earlier. Community Impact's March 2026 timeline listed early 2028 for City Park's completion, a date set before the bid moved, and the October update gave no new completion date.

The current concept includes:

1. A full loop for vehicle traffic
2. A looped pedestrian trail
3. A new skate park and pump track
4. New pickleball courts
5. Lake overlook areas
6. A relocated sand volleyball court
7. A relocated dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs

Dunaway's earlier concept, as described in November 2025, also included a beginner skills bike park and a boardwalk trail. All of this is still at the concept stage until design is final. If bidding happens in fall 2027 and construction takes even as long as Butler's 300-day window, a finished City Park lands well after Butler opens. The volleyball court and dog park you use now will stay where they are until that work starts, and the relocated versions arrive with the rest of the project.

The Swim Center and Live Oak wait their turn

The city has said the Swim Center comes after City Park. Lakeway Parks and Recreation Director Andra Bennett told Community Impact that the city is looking for a "unique engineering firm" for the swim facility and could issue a request for qualifications by early 2027. In the same report, Bennett described the city's approach 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."

An RFQ is how the city picks a designer, and design comes before any construction bid. Butler and City Park show that design alone takes most of a year. The $6.02 million Swim Center is therefore at an earlier point now than City Park was a year ago. The 2024 concept described a lazy river, an eight-lane lap pool, a splash pad, and leisure-pool improvements, as the Lake Travis View reported at the time. Those features will stay concepts until a firm is hired and a design is approved.

The Live Oak Tennis Courts project received $2.72 million. According to Community Impact's 2024 bond preview, its concept called for replacing the existing courts, adding one court, replacing a retaining wall, and adding a practice wall and a sports plaza. At the July 2025 council update, Live Oak was the lowest-priority project and was waiting on progress on the others, with no completion date listed. None of the 2026 updates gave it a schedule.

What the order means for the next two summers

Summer 2027 is the realistic target for the bond's first major new amenity, Butler Rough Hollow Park, with its bike course, ninja course, and amphitheater. City Park, the Swim Center, and the Live Oak courts should look and work much as they do today through at least summer 2027. Any construction disruption at City Park would start after a fall 2027 bid. The skate park, pump track, new pickleball courts, and split dog park are all part of that later package.

Dunaway's design contract was set up to include quarterly updates to the council along with a delivery timeline. Those council updates and the city's 2024 Parks Bond page are the places to watch for the next change in dates, and the January 2027 design milestone for City Park is the next one on the calendar.

Park projects like Butler and City Park change how a street and a part of town feel to live in, and they're part of what we watch when we talk with Lakeway homeowners about timing a sale or a purchase. If you'd like to know how the bond schedule lines up with your own plans near Rough Hollow, City Park, or the Swim Center, Easley Group is glad to go through it with you. Let's Connect.