Custom Boathouses
Entertainment-grade boathouses with open-gable cooling, lifts, lighting and storm-rated substructures — built to whatever the Corps and any lessee authorize at that frontage.
Lakes We Serve · McLennan County, TX
Lake Waco waterfront: find out who answers for your bank.
The lake and its shoreline are federal, the stored water belongs to the City of Waco and the Brazos River Authority, and several stretches of bank are leased to local entities. A Waco project starts by sorting out which of those you are dealing with.
The Permitting Picture
Federal land, city water, leased bank.
Three interests overlap at Lake Waco, and a single job can involve more than one of them.
The United States owns the lake and the shoreline, administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, through the Waco Lake office (254-756-5359). The City of Waco and the Brazos River Authority hold the conservation storage rights — the water, not the ground.
On top of that, some shoreline areas are under lease to local entities, including Woodway Park and several club and association areas, and marina operations sit on 25-year Corps leases extendable to 50. So confirm early whether a given stretch of bank answers to the Corps directly or to a lessee. That question determines who you apply to, how long approval takes, and in some cases whether the work is possible at all.
It is worth being straight about the residential-dock question too. TPWD's inventory of Lake Waco's man-made structure lists boat ramps, marinas, piers and docks — which is not true of the Corps lakes down in Bell and Williamson counties. But a listing is not a permit program, and Shoretech will not tell a McLennan County owner that a private dock is a given. Call the Waco Lake office about your specific frontage, and if that bank is under lease, call the lessee as well.
The Thing Locals Remember
The 2003 pool raise moved every shoreline.
Approved by the Waco City Council in 1998, impounded in 2003 — and seven feet of former bank went permanently under.
Lake Waco's conservation pool was raised from 455 to 462 feet msl. Seven feet does not sound like much until you walk it: every shoreline, park boundary and access road around the lake moved with it, and a great deal of what old aerials and old survey work show as bank is now water.
That matters for anyone designing against historical drawings. It also matters for what sits above the pool — there are 41 feet of flood storage over conservation level, with the Corps able to hold to 503 feet, and Bosque River rises out of the Waco–Hillsboro country arrive fast. Normal fluctuation runs 2 to 6 feet; the design range is nothing like that.
What We Build Here
Waterfront work at Lake Waco.
Where a structure at the water is authorized, this is what Shoretech builds — and the shoreline work above it stands on its own regardless.
Boat Docks & Piers
Fixed and floating docks and swim piers sized for a lake with 41 feet of flood storage above conservation pool, not for a calm summer photograph.
Seawalls & Bulkheads
Bulkhead and retaining-wall construction for clay, silt and sand-and-gravel banks — galvanized steel, vinyl, FRP composite and heavy timber.
Precision Dredging
The three Bosque arms carry silt. Slip, ramp and channel dredging with material pumped for backfill reuse instead of trucked off site.
Know the Water
A working lake at the edge of a city.
Roughly 8,400 acres fed by the North, Middle and South Bosque.
Waco is the one lake in this group where the water sits inside a city. Woodway, Speegleville and China Spring all press against it, and that proximity is why its shoreline inventory looks different from the rural Corps reservoirs to the south.
The water is stained to murky — 90 feet deep at the dam but broad and shallow up the three Bosque arms, over natural bedrock, clay and silt, and sand-and-gravel flats. Water willow, lotus and cattail line the edges, and there is a lot of submerged timber and flooded terrestrial vegetation. For construction that means two different design problems on one lake: hard bottom near the dam, soft and obstructed bottom up the arms.
Around the Lake
Communities and access points we serve.
McLennan County waterfront, from the Woodway side around to the China Spring arms.
Cities & Communities
- Waco
- Woodway
- China Spring
- Speegleville
- Hewitt
- Lorena
- McGregor
- Crawford
- Bosqueville
- Midway
Parks & Access Points
- Airport Park
- Koehne
- Midway
- Reynolds Creek
- Speegleville
- Twin Bridges
- Flat Rock
- Lacy Point
- Bosque Park
- Woodway Park (leased)
Shoretech is based in Trinity and travels for the right project. Dave will look at the ground, the water and the paperwork trail before anything is designed.
Questions We Hear
Lake Waco FAQ.
Who do I apply to for shoreline work at Lake Waco?
Start with the Corps' Waco Lake office at 254-756-5359, because the land and shoreline are federal. If your stretch of bank is one of the leased areas — Woodway Park, a club or association area, or a marina lease — the lessee is part of the conversation too. Sorting that out first saves weeks.
Are private residential docks allowed on Lake Waco?
TPWD lists docks and piers among the lake's man-made structure, which sets Waco apart from the Corps lakes south of here. What we will not do is present that as a guaranteed private permit program. Confirm with the Waco Lake office for your address before you spend money on a design.
Does the City of Waco or the Brazos River Authority permit construction?
They hold the conservation storage rights — the stored water. The land and shoreline are the Corps'. Water rights and construction authority are two different things, and confusing them is a common way to lose a season.
How much does the lake actually move?
Normal fluctuation is 2 to 6 feet, but there are 41 feet of flood storage above the 462-foot conservation pool and the Bosque rises fast out of the Hillsboro country. Substructures, walkways and lifts get designed for that range, not the average day.
Nearby Water
More lakes in this region.
Start With a Conversation
Planning a project on Lake Waco?
Tell Dave where the frontage is, who holds the lease if anyone does, and what you want the finished waterfront to do. The design follows from there.