Debate intensifies over code changes to Butler Hike and Bike trail

Austin’s Parks and Recreation Board drew a crowd this past Monday, gathering to debate a number of code amendments targeting the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake.

The amendments, prompted by City Council direction last spring, would eliminate the existing 12-foot cap on the trail’s width and mandate a 1:1 ratio of watershed restoration programs per square foot of trail construction. Staff says the updates will help to streamline projects like stormwater upgrades, trailhead connections and safety lighting currently hampered by bloated and inefficient code restrictions.

“We want to work with our partners at the Trail Conservancy to make sure they understand what the requirements are,” said Leslie Lilly, Watershed Protection Department environmental conservation program manager. “Our recommendation is based on the fact that we recognize the need to accommodate necessary improvements to the Butler trail for the benefit of the community, especially those related to safety and mobility.”

Nearly a dozen speakers took to the podium to share a different take, arguing that the “relaxing of standards” could prove a slippery slope for the ecologically sensitive area. Several echoed concerns that the amendments could open the door for a paved concrete corridor that would significantly alter the character of the beloved waterfront. The existing trail is made largely of decomposed granite.

“I think people overwhelmingly favor Butler trail as a nature trail along the park; that’s what Lady Bird Johnson had in mind. Roberta Crenshaw, Mary Arnold, 50 years of conservation efforts viewed this as a recreational nature trail, not a paved trail around the lake in the heart of our city,” said Save Our Springs Alliance Director Bill Bunch. “We should be pulling up pavement because of urban heat islands, the need for carbon capture and green space. … This is a total anathema, the opposite of the trail’s purpose.”

After two hours of debate, board members moved to recommend the code amendments in a 6-3 vote, with the caveat that staff explore inclusion of a more robust 2:1 watershed restoration ratio as a preferred standard. Board members Holly Reed, Lisa Hugman and Kim Taylor voted against, and two amendments posed by Reed to cap trail width at 20 feet and to limit the use of paved concrete were rejected.

City Council will hold a public discussion on the issue at its March 7 meeting. In the meantime, staff hopes to dispel concerns over sweeping changes to Butler, noting that the majority of the trail is already noncompliant with present width and setback restrictions.

“If code is resulting in noncompliance with a majority of the system, then in my opinion, the code isn’t working,” said city environmental officer Katie Coyne. “Right now, our variance process doesn’t offer a lot of surety on what restoration we ask for, and there’s not a clear mechanism for advancing projects, which I recognize can be difficult for an entity like the Trail Conservancy to be able to fundraise and set project budgets. … Offering clarity to our partners and working in good faith is important.”

Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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