Lake Marble Falls

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

An upcoming lake drawdown will provide an economic boost for the construction industry, as crews and heavy equipment descend on lakes LBJ and Marble Falls.

The Lower Colorado River Authority is scheduled to lower the waterways for an eight-week period starting Sunday Dec. 30 and ending Saturday, Feb. 23. Lake LBJ will be lowered 4 feet; 1 foot per day for the first four days. The Lake Marble Falls drawdown involves a 7-foot drop in the waterway's normal level; 1 foot per day for the first seven days.

“Your lumber stores, they're going to have sales of people wanting to reinforce or build,” said Scott Ross of Boats, Batteries and Slips. Ross primarily does hydraulic power-pack installations and frequently works along-side other businesses in the lakeside structure construction industry.

Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

In the aftermath of the October flood event, Marble Falls city officials are “moving forward as originally planned” with accepting bids on the $3 million phase 1A component of a multi-faceted parks improvement plan, ranging from a shoreline retaining wall to mitigate flood damage to new amenities such as a planned man-made beach in Lakeside Park.

City officials hosted a mandatory pre-bid conference Nov. 14 at Lakeside Pavilion to share information with engineers, members of the construction industry and infrastructure representatives who could become involved in projects.

“The city is following our original plan for moving forward with several of our Capital Improvement projects this year,” City Manager Mike Hodge said in a statement.

City staff believes the existing plan coincides with needed fixes and future flooding considerations.

From staff reports

Debris and unsafe conditions prompted the Lower Colorado River Authority today to extend the closure of Lake LBJ and Lake Marble Falls for week to 10 days following an assessement of post-flood waterway conditions.

Lake Marble Falls will remain closed until at least Monday, Nov. 12, and Lake LBJ will remain closed until at least Friday, Nov. 16, an LCRA press release stated.

Special to The Highlander

The Lower Colorado River Authority announced Monday, Nov. 5, it will lower lakes LBJ and Marble Falls for about eight weeks in early 2019 to assist lakeside property owners recovering from recent historic flooding along the Colorado and Llano rivers.

David McGuffey of Marble Falls is no stranger to catching big fish. He previously caught the lake record bass on Lake Marble Falls and while the largemouth he caught Thursday, June 15, at Wirtz Dam on Lake LBJ is not a record-setter, it still is a pretty nice catch.

McGuffey reeled in a certified 9.07-pound, 26.5-inch-long largemouth bass at 4 p.m. using a five-inch Senko worm for bait.

“He was feeding on shad and I caught him on the first cast on the rip raff (a bank of rock leading to the dam),” McGuffey said.

McGuffey owns a guide service and still holds the Lake Marble Falls for an 11.18-pound largemouth bass he caught in 2010.

Asked if he planned to have the fish mounted, McGuffey replied, “I don't know … I'm still just shaking!”

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

A newsletter and a link to a community survey about a potential north-south Colorado River crossing below Wirtz Dam have been launched by the Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and two public meetings have been scheduled on the topic.

When CAMPO met with Highland Lakes governmental representatives in Marble Falls on Sept. 9, staff members were finalizing the survey to gather public opinion on the project. In the weeks since and with plans to continue through November, they have moved through public events such as FiestaJAM and the Burnet Bluegrass Festival discussing the project with the people they met.

Now, two public meetings will take that interface a step further. The open house discussions to share information and gather input each will take place from 4-7 p.m.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

No matter where you are from, the Marble Falls Parks & Recreation Department wants your ideas for their facilities and programs.

An online survey is being conducted to collect the information that will make its way into the process going on to update the city's Park, Recreation & Open Space Master Plan. The document will help Marble Falls set priorities for parks, recreation facilities, trails and open spaces for the next 10 years.

As an incentive for the effort, those who complete the survey by Aug. 31 will be able to enter a drawing for a chance to win two VIP tickets to FiestaJAM 2016 to be held Sept. 23-24 at Lakeside Park and Pavilion or a 16GB Verizon iPhone 5s.

“Anyone who works or shops here or who just enjoys coming to Marble Falls is invited to take the survey,” said Monique Breaux, administrative assistant for Parks & Recreation. “The city takes everyone's views seriously.”

By Lew K. Cohn

and Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Water will be spraying hard and fast when drag boats zip across Lake Marble Falls this weekend during the 25th annual LakeFest, but it will be hard for pilots not to be reminded the tragic accident that claimed the life of veteran racer Mike Fry last year.

A tribute was held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, to remember Fry and honor his fellow drivers. The festival kicks off in earnest today, Friday, Aug. 12, with qualifying rounds starting at 9 a.m. and continuing into the afternoon.

Competitors and fans alike especially will miss that one entry not in this year's field. Fry, pilot of the Meanstreak II, a Top Alcohol Hydro (TAH) boat, died around 10:30 a.m on Aug. 9, 2015, after his boat disintegrated at the end of a run.

The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) on Tuesday, May 31, issued temporary closings to recreational boating on Lake LBJ and Lake Marble Falls.

Specifically the ban refers to portions of each lake because of flooding rains and strong flow of the Colorado River. The partial lake closures will remain in effect until further notice.

The closures includes:

BY ALEXANDRIA RANDOLPH/BURNET BULLETIN

The Highland Lakes area is under a flash flood watch until Thursday at 10 p.m.

The National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio issued a flash flood watch for Llano, Burnet, Williamson, Blanco, Travis and a number of surrounding counties early Thursday morning.

Meteorologists stated that the watch continues for all of south Central Texas.

“Locally heavy rainfall is expected for much of today and early evening as an upper level disturbance pushes across the area and interact with a surface stationary boundary just to the south of highway 90. One to three inches of rainfall are expected over already saturated grounds due to recent heavy rain episodes. Flash flooding is possible.”

The major concern is runoff from highly saturated ground.

“Soils are already very saturated and most of the rain will runoff into area creeks, streams and low lying areas,” the watch read.