There was an article in the newspaper this morning about Williamson County Commissioners backing a purchase of 1011 acres south of Liberty Hill for a park.  The purchase price is reported to be $10.6.  The county was considering another smaller property that carried a higher price tag, but didn't go for that one.  There was no mention of the 1011 acres ever looking for development, but the other property of 865 acres had plans for 1500 homes a few years ago.  The 865 acres had a price of $12.5 million.  So why would a developer with such big plans want to sell?

This question takes me back to a meeting with two LCRA representatives a month or so ago.  I was asking with Suzanne and Kelly about LCRA's plans to sell infrastructure.  They told me that a couple of municipalities had asked about buying the infrastructure in their areas, but that the LCRA wasn't looking to sell its water services outright.  The discussion changed to plans for future water lines our Highway 71. 

What Suzanne told me was that the LCRA had no plans to provide water out 71 past the Sweetwater development unless developers paid for it.  She said that the north shore of the lake was the same way.  What is needed is more intake lines and treatment plans in order to provide water for places like Highway 71 west toward Marble Falls and the north side of Lake Travis.  The article this morning made me wonder if the developer with the 865 acres thought he had a lock on water a few years ago only to find out that now he would have to pay for that.  That is exactly what has happened to some property out Hwy 71 like West Cypress Hills.

So my thought is that the 1011 acres and the 865 acres was not really developable unless several large developers got together with the LCRA to provide water and that just isn't a likely scenario.  The sale of the 1011 acres for something over $10,000 acres is pretty inexpensive.  Large tracts with water available to them have been going for  $30,000 - $50,000 or more per acre from what I have heard.