Round Rock City Council Packet Briefing - January 20, 2026
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Round Rock City Council Packet Briefing - January 20, 2026
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 AM with all council members present. This packet briefing reviewed agenda items for the upcoming regular council meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 22, 2026. No formal votes were taken; staff presented items and council asked clarifying questions.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Gary Eldon spoke on two items. First, regarding the rezoning application for 1000 S. IH-35 (ERCO Mechanical property), he expressed concerns that no site plan had been submitted, that a PUD was inappropriate, and that the applicant had a history of circumventing processes, including TCEQ fines in 2018 for developing without a water pollution abatement plan and for a petroleum spill, as well as recently removing protected trees before authorization. He urged additional due diligence.
- Second, he opposed the future land use map amendment and rezoning of a parcel at the entrance to Old Settlers Park from open space to commercial, stating that the park's open space is dwindling and that a proposed extended-stay hotel would harm the park. He requested council not to approve further harm.
Consent Calendar
- F2: Interlocal Agreement for Regional Vehicle Burglary Suppression Task Force – Police Chief presented a resolution to formalize the regional task force with Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Flugerville, Williamson County, and Pflugerville. He explained that vehicle burglaries and gun thefts are often committed by suspects from Houston and other regions operating along the I-35 corridor. The agreement would enable resource sharing and collaboration. No opposition expressed.
- F3 & F4: Vehicle Purchase Agreements with Caldwell County Chevrolet and Ford – Fleet Manager Chad explained these are additional procurement mechanisms to address ongoing vehicle delays from the COVID backlog and upfitting challenges. The city primarily uses Ford and Chevy Tahoes; vehicles currently must be sent to Fort Worth for upfitting. These agreements provide more flexibility.
- F5: Real Estate Purchase Contracts with Nelson Homestead Family Partnership – For the County Road 112 project (from AW Grimes to County Road 110), the city will purchase two parcels: 6.8 acres (Parcel 3) for $1.5 million and 20.5 acres (Parcel 4) for $3.6 million, with a remaining balance of $1.6 million. The project is expected to finish in late 2026 or early 2027.
- F6: Change Order #1 with Patent Construction for McNeil Road Culverts – The project adds culverts under the Union Pacific Railroad for drainage into Lake Creek. Reimbursable costs include surveying required by UPRR ($62,750) and inspection by Rail Pros ($47,833), totaling $110,000. Additional costs may be brought later.
- F7: Joint Election Agreement with Williamson County – Standard agreement for the May 2, 2026 general and special elections, allowing Williamson County to conduct elections and share costs.
- F8: Cost Participation Agreement with SDC Austin LLC for Bryant Drive – This agreement allows the developer of SDC Austin Building B to construct a portion of Bryant Drive between Double Creek and South AW Grimes, filling a gap left between the developer's and Encore substation's portions. City will contract with the developer to connect the road for emergency access.
Discussion Items
- G1/G2: Comprehensive Plan Amendment and Rezoning for 3.86 Acres near Old Settlers Park – Staff presented a request by the Old Settlers Association to change the future land use map from open space to commercial and rezone the property to C1A (General Commercial Limited) for potential commercial or hotel development. The property, located northwest of East Palm Valley Blvd and Harrow Parkway, is currently an RV park and owned by the association. Staff noted it meets location criteria for commercial designation. The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval. Council members asked about parking requirements (hotel: 1 space per guest room plus 1.5 per two employees), building design standards (orientation/articulation, not materials), and the size of the association's total holdings (staff to provide on Thursday).
- G3: Rezoning 23.43 Acres near McNeil Road for AirCo PUD – Staff presented a request to rezone a property southwest of IH-35 and McNeil Road, currently partially developed as AirCo's headquarters. The property has split zoning (commercial, light industrial, single family, employment center) and the PUD would consolidate it into a single industrial designation with tailored standards. Extra restrictions include a 25-foot landscape buffer with two rows of evergreen trees, no parking or stormwater infrastructure in the buffer, prohibition of loading docks facing the southern residential neighborhood, and capping freestanding lighting at 20 feet within 100 feet of residential lots. A data center is not an allowed use under this PUD. The applicant (AirCo) initially removed some protected trees prematurely, but a tree survey showed mostly unprotected scrub trees were removed, and any removed protected trees will be mitigated through the site development permit process. P&Z unanimously approved with one public speaker expressing concerns about noise and debris. Staff recommends approval.
- G4: Ordinance Calling May 2, 2026 General and Special Election – The ordinance orders elections for mayor, council places 1 and 4, and includes two charter amendments from citizen petitions (verified signatures exceeding 5% of qualified voters). The city clerk noted a fiscal note will be published. Councilmember Ortega emphasized the importance of disclosing the fiscal impact and noted that the petitions were initiated by a billboard company and the union fire department.
- D1: Economic Development Compliance Report – Staff presented the annual report. There are 24 active economic development agreements (Chapter 380 and Type B performance agreements). All businesses are in compliance. Key statistics: excluding Dell, businesses created a minimum of 3,322 jobs but actually employ over 8,260 (about 10% of Round Rock jobs); taxable property value from these agreements is $1.5 billion (excluding Dell) and $2.2 billion (including Dell); net taxes less incentives are $137 million (181% return) excluding Dell and $660 million (211% return) including Dell. Councilmember praised the incentives program, noting they keep residential taxes low.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken; all items briefed will be considered for action at the regular city council meeting on Thursday, January 22, 2026.
- Staff will provide additional information requested by council members: size of the Old Settlers Association's overall holdings, parking and design standards details, and a fiscal note for the charter amendments.
- The council will hear public testimony and the applicants for G1/G2 and G3 will be present on Thursday.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. I'll call 730 packet briefing order and please call the roll. Mayor Morgan. Here. Mayor Pro Tim Stevens. Here. Councilmember Lee? Here. Councilmember Flores? Here. Councilmember Fleming? Here. Councilmember Ortega? Here. Councilmember Montgomery. Here. All right. So this communication pursuant to uh text code to text government code section 551.007, which allows public speak for a total of three minutes on any of the agenda items list below, excluding executive sessions. Gary Eldon. Good morning. Morning. I'd uh like to ask a couple of things this morning. The uh application for rezoning a 1000 uh South IH 35 with the ERCO mechanical property. Uh, I think it bears some additional due diligence before approval for a number of reasons. Uh one, there's no site plan submitted at this point, seems a little premature. The stated intended use for the property is expand warehouse operations and so forth. It would seem that uh simply rezoning the inaccessible single family uh parcel in question two light industrial would allow the applicant to do that with uh without any further ado. So a PUD seems inappropriate uh for this rezoning. If anything, it seems like it's uh setting the property up for future use, perhaps as a data center. The applicant further has a history of uh circumventing process and procedure. They were fined in 2018 by at the maximum level by TCEQ for failing for developing uh a parking lot and staging area without uh first submitting a water pollution uh abatement plan to TCEQ, and at that same violation or or same notice, they were fined for uh not containing a petroleum spill on the parking lot. So they've prematurely done that, and more recently, they've removed protected trees from the property, piling them up against the neighbor's backyard uh prior to author authorization for removal of those trees. So that seems uh a questionable history and circumvention of the minimal requirements placed upon them already. So I just think it needs a little more due diligence uh before approval. It seems a very odd request versus other options they have readily available to them. Uh additionally, the matter that will be coming before you to modify the future land use map and round route 2030 uh for parcel right at the entrance to Old Settlers Park from open space to commercial. Uh the open space that was once at Old Settlers Park is dwindling rapidly in favor of sports and entertainment venues. Uh giving more of it up to commercial uses seems a horrible misuse of that space. And of course, subsequent to the request for modifying the flum and round route 2030 is a request to rezone to commercial to allow for building an extended stay hotel effectively inside old settlers park. Please, please don't do further harm to the park than has already been done. Thank you. Questions okay, thank you all. Hey, Chief. F two consider resolution authorized Mary Day interlocal agreement with HUDO, Cedar Park, Georgetown Leander, Flugerville, and Williamson County. I know. How's it going? Good morning, Mayor and Council. How are you? I apologize. I'm wearing my glasses.
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