By RICH KEITH, Four Points News

Local Four Points and Lake Travis civic leaders met recently to discuss long-term goals and realistic strategies for improving transportation in the area between Lakeline Mall and TX 71. Involved were the Four Points Chamber of Commerce president Ray Freer, the Lake Travis Chamber of Commerce president Laura Mitchell and Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce president Tony Moline.

“We met to discuss common interests surrounding putting together a vision for and seeing plans for development along the 620 corridor,” said Brian Thompto, community relations chair with the Four Points Chamber of Commerce.

Brian Thompto, community relations chair with the Four Points Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association.

Both short term and long term goals were discussed. “Ultimately we want to create a vision for the area,” Thompto said. “We want to build a coalition to influence regional transportation issues including Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization or CAMPO priorities,” he said.

Thompto urges Four Points residents to come out for the CAMPO Mobile Meeting on Wednesday at Lakeway Activity Center, 105 Cross Creek Drive at  6 p.m. This planning meeting invites residents to share concerns, experiences and solutions for traffic planning.

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By LYNETTTE HAALAND, Four Points News

Austin Regional Clinic Wilson Parke in the Trails at 620 is planning to open next summer. The multi-specialty clinic will add to the 18 other ARC clinics in the three-county area.

“ARC Wilson Parke is in direct response to the rapid growth in the 620/2222 area, one of the fastest-growing areas of metro Austin,” said Mark Steiger, ARC regional director.

ARC Wilson Parke is part of a 44,000-square-foot building that will also house Austin Radiological Associates.

ARC will take up just over half of the building with 75 exam and treatment rooms and a full-service lab, with radiology services available at the ARA location in the same building.

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By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

Trey Dickerson will not forget his early-morning run last week in River Place anytime soon. That’s when he came face to face with a driver, separated only by her windshield.

The 17-year-old  Vandegrift High School senior took a neighborhood run Oct. 30 around 6:45 a.m.

Trey Dickerson, VHS senior, was near the front of River Place on a run last week when a silver sedan hit him. He was okay from the hit, but the driver did not stop to check on him.

It was dark, rainy and foggy. Trey was not wearing reflective clothing nor did he have earphones on at the time. He had run to the front of River Place and was returning, a path he had been taking for many months, on and off.

“As he was crossing the driveway that leads to the retail shops and medical offices, a car was turning and hit him pretty solidly on the legs,” said Kerry Dickerson, Trey’s mom.

Thankfully he was not hurt, she said.

“(But) as he was hit, he had to brace himself on the hood of the car with his hands, making eye contact with both the woman in the car and her child in the back seat,” Kerry said.

Trey told his mom that the driver had slammed her brakes on, stopped momentarily, and then drove on without speaking to him or checking to see that he was okay.

Kerry was “absolutely furious” when Trey got home and he shared with her what happened.

“I just can’t believe that a mother with a child in the back seat would decide to drive on, and not stop to check the welfare of the person they had just hit,” Kerry said.

The only details that Trey could remember were that the car was a silver sedan, driven by an adult female.

The Dickerson’s have lived in River Place since 1997, minus two years in Tokyo and two years in France. Kerry encourages people to be careful.

“There have been so many hit-and-run incidents in Austin, and so many accidents in River Place,” she said. “After all the accidents in River Place lately, people need to be paying attention.”

By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

Black Walnut Cafe opened this morning in Four Points, its first restaurant outside of the Houston market.

Black Walnut Cafe’s Joe Brassard, vice president of operations, and Cisco Marquez, district manager, put the final touches on their newest eatery in River Place.

“Four Points fits our model – churches, schools, residents, businesses. We target a community-type environment,” said Joe Brassard, vice president of operations.

The upscale, fast casual restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and has close to 100 items on the menu, all made from scratch.

Located in River Place at 10817 RM 2222, Black Walnut is decorated with wood paneling, high back chairs and belt driven fans. It has a dog-friendly patio too, the chain’s first.

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By RICH KEITH, Four Points News

A committee acting for Leander ISD has proposed a change to the elementary school attendance boundaries which could affect up to 436 current Four Points students if approved by the school board in December.

The committee, made up of 25 residents selected through a blind process from over 200 who applied, has been crafting the district’s options over the last several months.

District-wide, 2,326 students are affected under the committee’s proposal. The district is dealing with extreme asymmetric growth, with the far north and northeast greatly outpacing the south including Four Points. This reality forces the district to push attendance zones ever-southward because there is a lag in how many elementary schools exist or are planned to be built in the far north.

In Four Points – coincidentally – the exact same scenario is playing out. The northern area of the Steiner Ranch peninsula is expected to add considerably more students. This makes the district examine how best to accommodate it using the three schools available.

Thus all the students affected attend elementary schools in Steiner Ranch. The committee recommended the following changes in Steiner Ranch which will affect 436 students:

• Summer Vista students who attend Laura W. Bush Elementary today will move to River Ridge Elementary.

• Hancock Hill students who attend Bush today will move to Steiner Ranch Elementary.

• Students living in the University of Texas Golf Club and who attend River Ridge Elementary today will move to Bush.

• Students in the Savannah neighborhood are not affected.

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