Members of the Parks and Recreation Board struggled with the many facets of public parking at Zilker Park this week, finally postponing a vote until July 24. After a lengthy discussion, board members failed to adopt a resolution asking City Council to eliminate most parking at the environmentally sensitive Polo Fields and direct cars to other lots.
The change would have a financial effect, due to the cost of providing shuttle service from lots farther from the park, as well as convincing people to use those lots. During the meeting, board members struggled with the complexity of the traffic problem and wondered aloud whether there was any point in asking for additional funding for the department at this late date. They were told that most budget requests were made months ago. Council will begin to discuss the budget at a July 19 meeting. There was no discussion of parking garages, which are recommended in the Zilker Park Vision Plan.
Board Member Holly Reed put forth a resolution to address the Polo Fields situation, but there was insufficient support after a lengthy discussion.
The meat of the resolution was a recommendation that Council direct the Parks and Recreation Department to close parking on the Polo Fields completely beginning Aug. 1, except for use as an overflow parking area during advanced scheduled special events, like Blues on the Green and the Zilker Holiday Tree lighting. In addition, Reed argued the city should use one of its shuttle buses to serve an area such as the Butler Landfill, which is considered a better spot environmentally.
Map of Polo Fields parking. Credit: Zilker Working Group
A 2019 report from the Zilker Park Working Group explicitly recommended closing the Polo Fields to cars and restoring the environment of the area. That report also stated that the city should find other parking places for the multitudes of parkgoers who drive to Zilker. The city has advertised its free shuttle service from One Texas Center on summer weekends and eliminated free parking throughout Zilker.
According to the 2019 report, “The use of landscape areas of the park for parking and pedestrian circulation has resulted in extensive environmental degradation, most specifically within the critical root zones of trees in the park. Using this area for parking prevents the public from using the Polo Fields as parkland.”
As the report explained, The Polo Fields parking area provides an estimated 1,000 non-paved overflow parking spaces, roughly twice the amount of paved parking (506) in Zilker Park between Barton Creek and Barton Springs Road. Additional ‘non-paved parking’ at Zilker Park includes Stratford Drive (600-1,000) and Lou Neff Road (200). This parking area covers approximately 7 acres of Zilker Park.”
The report noted, “The Polo Fields area is heavily compacted from substantial vehicle parking use throughout the year, with soil compression effectively meeting ‘impervious cover’ levels of permeability.
“The use of the Polo Fields area for overflow parking may violate the pollution prevention and limitations on impervious cover required by (city regulations) for the portions of the Polo Fields that are within the Barton Springs Zone Watershed Regulation Area. With the topography of the Polo Fields area, surface flow drains primarily into Lady Bird Lake and Barton Creek, with runoff into the Barton Creek Critical Water Quality Zone that flows down to the paved parking lot in front of the Bathhouse and drains, untreated, into Barton Creek downstream of the lower dam.”
Still, there are those who would argue against closing the Polo Fields in the near future. Scott Cobb, a lifeguard at Barton Springs Pool, said some employees were “strongly opposed” to closing the Polo Fields for parking. He said he and others are often late to work because they are looking for a place to park. Parking at One Texas Center takes much longer, because of distance and wait times for the shuttle.
Cobb asked that the board encourage the department to add more designated employee parking spaces. He said some employees who get off work late at night are forced to walk in the dark back to their cars, which is sometimes dangerous.
Board members also heard a report from Riley Triggs, project management supervisor for rehabilitation of the Barton Springs Bathhouse.
Triggs said that because of the location of the bathhouse, the city requires an amendment to the Save Our Springs Ordinance. He said he expected consideration of that amendment to come before Council at the end of August, and after that, the department would put the project out for bids. If all goes well, he expects construction to begin in January. When that happens, many of the spaces in the parking lot next to the bathhouse and the springs will be unavailable because of construction. That will eliminate some staff parking, too.
The board will again take up the thorny issue of parking in the park at its July 24 meeting.
Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.
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Parks and Recreation Board: The city’s Parks and Recreation Board members deal with the acquisition, development, improvement, and maintenance of Austin’s parks and playgrounds.
Zilker Park: Austin's largest downtown park, Zilker Park is comprised of 350 acres donated by Andrew Jackson Zilker in 1917. It contains the Zilker Botanical Gardens, Umlauf Sculpture Garden and adjoins Barton Springs Pool.
