Lago Vista owns no commercial lots, economic director says

What this is

The agenda listed the item under its work session heading as "Discuss the 2027 Economic Development and tourism strategy for the city."³ The 2026-27 budget book shows $457,407 approved for the Economic Development department in the General Fund.⁵

Our earlier story found that the city's separate Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has no budget of its own. A second story covered the EDC board's vote to seek federal tax-exempt status. We have also reported on city money for the chamber of commerce, including hotel tax payments and the Brews and Balloons festival. This story covers the city department's own plan.

What was presented

Mayor Shane Saum chaired the meeting.^2,6 The chair said the council's planning talk on economic development "hasn't happened," so "I put an item on here so that they could talk a little bit about what we're doing internally."⁷ The chair said, "I have Mr. Zeno, who will give us a quick presentation." The chair added, "And you all should have a handout here with you."⁶ The item's cover page lists no attachments, and we did not find the handout in the 271-page packet.¹

Zeno said, "We talked about having a strategic planning session with city council," and "to the date that has not happened." He called the plan "kind of a what we did in house and staff and kind of our strategy for the city."⁸ He said he would also give the council "another document," a list of the department's accomplishments. He said, "That was in 2019," when the economic development department was created.⁹

The first goal listed was "business recruitment and commercial development." Its aim was to "attract quality retail, restaurants," professional services, and other businesses.¹⁰

The next goal was business retention, expansion, and entrepreneurship, meaning work to "support existing businesses, encourage reinvestment." Zeno said the city has an informal business retention program, and "I would like to formalize that." He called one item "a big one," a resource guide for people who "don't understand the process" of opening a business.¹¹

Under tourism development and destination marketing, Zeno said the city just earned a Texas "tourism friendly" certified community designation, which he called "a big help." The plan calls for weekend events "encouraging visitors to stay overnight and spend more money locally." The plan also calls for a tourism performance dashboard to track visitor activity and hotel occupancy.¹²

Under special events and sports tourism, he said, "We have a special events coordinator in the economic department now."¹³

The infrastructure goal aims at "identifying and addressing development barriers." He said, "We do understand that a lot of these commercial sites are privately owned." "I hope in that strategic planning, you all will give us our vision where you all see that commercial corridor being," Zeno told the council.¹⁴

Under partnerships, he said, "We'll continue to work with EDC." He also proposed "a quarterly partner engagement schedule" with groups such as the chamber of commerce.¹⁵

Questions from the council

The chair called on Council Member Karen Van Ness, who asked for "a more kind of strategic discussion and direction around how the city and chamber collaborate."^2,16 She said the aim was to "look at the bigger picture of how can we work hand in hand more successfully and systematically."¹⁶

A speaker answered, "We have not had that conversation." The speaker said they had been told "the city had to have their strategic plan in place before we can have that conversation." Another speaker said, "We were supposed to have our discussion on strategy and tell Eric kind of what direction we want to go," and "we haven't done our part of it." A speaker replied, "But I'd say that's backwards. I want to hear from these two to feed into our planning."¹⁷

One speaker said, "A big hurdle, as you just mentioned, is land." Zeno answered, "If the city could purchase some commercial lots, I mean, we could just about probably fill it up." Some lots, he added, "need to be shovel ready," meaning ready for building.⁴

The chair then called on Council Member Jess Hall, who said the plan "really looks great."^2,18 Hall said the plan is "massive" in the amount of work it will take. He said the chamber of commerce could "take whatever off your plate that they can do," so staff can focus on "the things that only you can do."¹⁸

The next speaker said, "The strategic plan is gigantic. It's very optimistic." That speaker suggested a "1431 open" event to promote businesses along the highway, saying "it would be a great marketing opportunity."¹⁹

The chair then called on the "Mayor Pro Tem," and Mayor Pro Tem Norma Owen said, "We're already going to be collaborating in regard to Brews and Balloons."^2,20 She suggested taking the opportunity to "maybe do just a little bit of a beginning of a strategic plan, and then that will give the council time to have theirs."²⁰

In a last thought, Owen noted that one item in the plan is to "conduct strategic planning with the city council to define where commercial corridors will be located." She asked staff for "any information that you all come up with together" for the council's planning. The chair then moved on to other items, and the council took no vote on the strategy.²¹

What it means for taxpayers

The agenda item does not call for a vote or for spending.¹ The director did not say how much the city would spend on land, or what is in the real estate fund.⁴ We could not find a cost for the plan in the posted packet.¹

What we could not find

• The strategy handout and the accomplishments list given to the council.
• The balance of the real estate fund, and any rules for spending it.
• A date for the council's strategic planning session.

What you can do

• Watch the work session in the city's meeting video, linked in the sources below.
• Ask the City Secretary for a copy of the strategy handout. It is a public record under the Texas Public Information Act.
• Ask the city's finance office how much is in the real estate fund and what it may be used for.