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One need look no further than the dusty construction site adjacent to the tennis complex at Liberty Hill High School for an indicator of how the Panthers program continues to grow.

Four new courts are being added to the existing eight, which will allow Liberty Hill head coach Sherry Rhoden even more space to continue cultivating what has already become a flourishing program under her guidance.

With 70 players in the high school ranks and another 100 in middle school, there are many faces roaming about on the purple hardcourts on a typical afternoon as more and more young athletes are finding a place to call home.

As the Panthers’ varsity kicks off the fall team tennis season, freshman Lily Tobin is one of the newcomers – although she’s already familiar with her new surrounding after having played for Santa Rita Middle School’s squad before matriculating to the high-school campus.

Despite the fact she’s already logged countless hours on the courts there, she’s still experiencing the newness and excitement of being a high-school varsity player, she said.

“At this level, it’s more challenging,” said Tobin. “But it’s also a lot more fun.”

Tobin began playing tennis in seventh grade after her family moved south from Minnesota to escape the harsh winters and was looking to pick up a new athletic activity after having previously played soccer.

“You don’t have to hit the hardest or be the strongest to be a good tennis player,” she said. “It’s more about the strategy, like a game of chess.”

Rhoden said Tobin’s ability to play a strong mental game gives her an advantage over opponents that aren’t yet as advanced in that aspect.

“Lily has excellent court knowledge after having already put in so many hours on the court – be it practice or matches,” said Rhoden. “A lot of players her age don’t really know the game yet, but she’s always striving to be better than she was yesterday.”

In addition, Tobin brings an energy to the team that belies her relative inexperience, she said.

“She’s just full of joy and exudes it,” said Rhoden. “It’s really impressive to see a freshman come in want success for everyone like she does.”

Johnathan Allaire is a junior who has already been around the block with the Panthers, playing both tennis and basketball and said the reason he decided to try out a court of a different kind was after a sibling did the same.

“My older brother Josh played tennis here and I always wanted to be teammates with him in something,” said Allaire. “So, I finally got that opportunity.”

Allaire still plays basketball and enjoys the contrast between both sports.

“I love the intensity of basketball – it’s five-on-five out there and you’re working together with your teammates,” he said. “You can really just get after it, but with tennis you have to be a little more calm and take things one step at a time with more of a controlled aggression.”

According to Rhoden, Allaire does well in blending aspects from what makes him successful in hoops to tennis.

“Johnathan really likes to attack the ball,” said Rhoden. “He’s been able to take his aggressiveness from basketball and learned when to use it and when to strategize.”

However, Allaire doesn’t want to just compete – he wants to be victorious whenever he and his teammates step onto the court.

“Building a winning culture is very important to me,” he said. “I’ve always been very competitive and want to take something as far as I can. Tennis is already fun, but winning is more fun.”

Rhoden is currently in her fourth season leading the Panthers and has successfully stewarded the program, with an increase of 40 high-school players when she took over to the 70 that now fill the rosters of the varsity and JV teams and from the beginning has had a primary objective of creating a family-like atmosphere, which has also come to fruition and is blooming better than ever, she said.

“We have a lot of social butterflies on this team,” said Rhoden. “All the kids like each other and get along great.”

In addition to the new courts, the tennis team will have its own locker room for the first time with the renovation of the spring field house, which further illustrates the growth curve the program has followed, said Rhoden.

“Up until now, my classroom has basically been our locker room,” she said. “So, it’s absolutely wonderful to finally have a place we can call our own.”

LIBERTY HILL, Texas (KXAN) — A neighborhood road in the Santa Rita Ranch development is sinking and cracking around a manhole cover, and there is no known reason why it’s happening. It has neighbors in the area very concerned.

“As you can see behind me, I don’t know if we have much more time to resolve this before it sinks in,” Julie Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez lives right in front of where this hole formed on Suri Drive. She and her neighbors said the road first started showing signs of sinking on Halloween night last year. This past April, the road began to crack and noticeably started sinking.

Neighbors said they reached out to their homeowners association who told them it was an issue that Williamson County needed to fix. After four months of calling, Rodriguez said they were not receiving any help and decided to reach out to KXAN.

The hole was completely surrounded by orange construction cones last week. When KXAN reached out to the county about the issue, a team from the Road and Bridges department went to the hole and covered it with metal plates that same day.

A spokesperson with the county said in an email, “The issue with why it is taking so long is that with the high level of construction around the county, it is difficult to get subcontractors to work on smaller projects such as this one. In addition, Williamson County needs to make sure that there are no utilities in the way of the work, and it has taken a while for utilities to respond to our requests. So, as an interim fix, Williamson County put a metal plate over the area. Then, we will continue to determine the underlying issue and location of utilities so that we can repair the roadway.”

“We’ve been living with this going on the tail end of four months. I can’t imagine that you don’t have the resources in four months to get this fixed,” Rodriguez said. She is worried about the safety of her children and other kids in the neighborhood, especially with Halloween coming up next month.

Rodriguez and her neighbors worry that the hole will continue to grow. They say there are more cracks forming around the large hole.

This is not the first time this neighborhood has seen this kind of problem with their road. Neighbors said this same problem happened just a few hundred feet away from where this current hole is now growing in 2021.

That problem was eventually fixed.

Rodriguez said the local municipal utility district snaked a camera down into the hole to check the utility lines in the area and found no issues. Williamson County is continuing to find the cause of this hole.

Liberty Hill City Council approved an ordinance to increase water and wastewater rates starting Oct. 1.

What you need to know

Council voted to implement the January 2021 rates from the city’s 2018-19 water and wastewater rate study June 14. Prior to the vote, the city had been implementing the 2019 rates.

According to the city’s rate study, the January 2019 water rate—which were the previous charges—for in-city residential and commercial customers was a monthly minimum charge of $35.09.

The new water rate, which is scheduled to begin in October, is a monthly minimum charge of $37.95.

The January 2019 wastewater rates for in-city residential customers was at a monthly minimum charge of $49.67 per living unit equivalent. Starting in October, the new wastewater rate will be a monthly minimum charge of $57.86 per living unit equivalent.

While council approved the new rates in June, the official passing of an ordinance was required for the rates to begin in October.

In other news

Council also selected respective engineering consultants to start work on the 2023-24 water utility and wastewater master plans.

“[Infrastructure has] to be expanded,” Director of Public Works David Thomison said at the Aug. 23 City Council meeting. “I don’t think that our current rates and impact fees are where they need to be in this day and time. I think they need to be evaluated and reviewed.”

Engineering consultant HDR will be working on the city’s water utility master plan for a total cost of $553,100. Work included in the plan is an update on water impact fees, a water rate analysis, an inventory on existing facilities and systems, and an update on the population and water demand forecast.

For wastewater, engineering consultant CDM Smith Inc. will update the master plan to include a rate study, an update on impact fees and wastewater system modeling, which will cost the city $543,290.

Council Member Chris Pezold stressed the importance of updated impact fees in both master plans.

“The main thing that I want from y’all, that I think this council wants, is those new impact fees with documentation behind them so we can go forth and charge correctly,” he said.

Reports on both the water and wastewater master plans are scheduled to be completed in 2024.

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LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) — Liberty Hill ISD parents have reported bumper-to-bumper traffic at the intersection of Ronald Reagan Highway and Bar W Boulevard. The backup of cars has led to demand for a stoplight at the crossing but infrastructure leaders say that could take more than a year to do.

This stretch of Ronald Reagan Highway separates the Rancho Sierra and Bar W neighborhoods. Leander City Manager Rick Beverlin said while the road itself is in the City of Leander’s jurisdiction, the neighborhoods are their own municipal utility districts in an unincorporated part of Williamson County.

He said the rapid growth of the neighborhoods has led to more cars driving on the road as the subdivisions let out onto Ronald Reagan Highway. LHISD parents said the new Bar W Elementary campus that opened this school year has also contributed to the traffic problem.

Beverlin said because these neighborhoods are not in city limits they do not contribute to taxes, and by extension infrastructure, for the City of Leander. He said the city is now considering moving funds around from projects that have already been budgeted to accommodate the request for a stoplight.

He said the city is also talking with Liberty Hill ISD and Williamson County to potentially split the cost of this traffic light so it can be built faster. Beverlin estimates that cost to be $1 million.

“You’ve had a lot of development that’s outstripped the infrastructure. Be it roads, signals, or water faster than the city can really build it,” Beverlin said.

In the humid morning air, lines of cars wait to drop off their students at the doors of Bar W Elementary.

Chelsea Dawson is one parent that waits in the long line in order to drop her daughter off for class.

She said this intersection near the school has always had trouble with traffic, but the opening of the new school has made the problem more apparent.

“It’s not the commute that’s the problem. Safety is what my biggest concern is,” Dawson said.

Dawson said the drop-off traffic coincides with commuter traffic. She said fast cars have caused even more worry for her.

“They’re going 65-70, sometimes even faster. It is very dangerous to have to pull out into that, especially if you’re coming from where the school is – trying to make that left and go to the subdivisions,” Dawson said.

Beverlin said it’s likely that a temporary stoplight will be erected at the intersection, but the approval, bidding, and budgeting process for a permanent light could take more than a year.

“You do have a period where you have to accumulate the money, program it, design it, and then construct it as per state law. There’s a lot of boxes to check,” Beverlin said.

LIBERTY HILL, Texas - Tucked into the countryside of Liberty Hill is more than 1300 acres of land.

"For our parks department, it adds the largest park property in our system, and it adds an incredible oasis, if you will, among what is turning into a very growing developing area," said Russell Fishbeck, director of Williamson County Parks.

Williamson County opened River Ranch County Park to the public on Saturday. Voters approved the bonds for the project in 2006, and crews finally broke ground in 2018.

"In some ways it's a relief," Fishbeck said. "In other ways, it's just exciting because we know that visitors have been wanting to get in here and see this place and use it for a long time."

About 20 miles of trails make up the new park, perfect for hikers, horses and pups.

"It's a great community asset," said Bill Corvett, a member of the Sun City Hiking Club. "We're excited that it's open now."

Corvett spent the last three years mapping the park's trails.

"We've walked them all at least three or four to five times," he said, "so over a hundred miles by the time we were all done."

There's also campgrounds and an interpretive center.

"We would like people to come out and reflect and enjoy nature," Sue Wiseman, a Friend of the River Ranch County Park, said.

The center will host programs and exhibits for visitors to learn about the history and nature of the area.

"We are just excited to finally have to help teach people to learn about nature," Wiseman said.

The park will continue its celebration Sunday, welcoming visitors to its newest haven.

"This is our first. We hope not our last," Wiseman said.

The daily entry fee is $4, free to kids under 12 and $2 for adults over 65. Frequent users can purchase park passes.