By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

The Texas Department of Transportation is trying to wrap up construction at RM 2222 and McNeil Drive before the start of Leander ISD classes on Monday. The project is being done to help facilitate the flow of traffic through this area, the primary access route for both Four Points Middle School and Vandegrift High School.

Once finished, there will be new, dual left-turn lanes from eastbound RM 2222 to McNeil Drive, and the right-turn lane from westbound RM 2222 will be lengthened.

Additionally, McNeil Drive to RM 2222 will be striped with a left-turn, a right-turn, and a center optional left- or right-turn, said Kelli Reyna, TxDOT spokesperson for the Austin District.

Sidewalk ramps and concrete curb and gutter work is being done at night at the RM 2222 and McNeil Drive intersection. This work started on Sunday night and is expected to go through Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night in hopes of getting the project done before Monday.

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By SARAH DOOLITTLE, Four Points News

In 2011, Michele and Michael O’Rourke were in need of psychiatric services for Michael’s bipolar type II disorder and a profound depressive cycle that had started in January.

Michele was pleased with the psychiatrist she herself was seeing, but that doctor was not taking new patients. Michael was left instead with a clinical psychiatric nurse who proved to be a poor match, recommending a course of treatment that presumed he did not take his medication regularly, although he did. Continue reading →

By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

Despite local opposition, the Foundation Communities’ Cardinal Point affordable housing project is expected to break ground in Four Points after the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs in July approved $15 million in state tax credits to help fund the project.

Cardinal Point will be located on an 8.5 acre tract located at 11011 1/2 Four Points Drive. It will include 120 units ranging from one to three bedrooms. The project is expected to break ground in August 2016 and open in late 2017, according to Foundation Communities Communications Coordinator Alyah Khan. She said rents between all the units will average approximately $640/month. Families earning up to 60 percent of the area median family income would be eligible to apply. Continue reading →

By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

River Place residents will see some relief on their water bills in the form of a one-time credit after the River Place Homeowners Association reached a settlement deal with Austin Water Utility over what the HOA said was an unjust increase in water and wastewater rates by the city of Austin.

In December 2014, the HOA filed a Water Rate Protest with the Public Utility Commission against AWU, after the city imposed a dramatic increase in water and wastewater rates upon the ratepayers of the River Place Water and Wastewater Systems. Residents saw the first increase in October 2014 and then another increase in November 2014.

River Place HOA Board of Directors Cheryl Page, Tim Mattox, Scott Crosby, Rich Coppola, Ivar Rachkind, and attorney Randall Wilburn (standing) go over the terms of the settlement with River Place residents at a community meeting on July 29.

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By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

Residents in the lakeside community of Hudson Bend, which is adjacent to Steiner Ranch, want to incorporate and form their own city, preventing future annexation by the city of Austin.

“We want to avoid Austin’s high tax rates and burdensome regulations,” resident Alton Moore said. “We cannot escape many of the regulations, since almost every square foot of Hudson Bend is covered by the Lower Colorado River Authority, and we are not looking to trash the environment, but only to avoid the big-city takeover, which would inevitably force property values up, and would make this area unaffordable for many of us to continue to live in.”

The first step in the process is to convince the Austin City Council to release the community from Austin’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). A committee of residents known as the “Hudson Bend Incorporation Committee” sent a letter to the City of Austin on June 2, requesting to be released from the ETJ.

The Hudson Bend community meeting on May 28 drew 79 concerned citizens who would like to incorporate as their own city and avoid being annexed by the city of Austin.

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