The Parks and Recreation Board last week heard the results of the second community engagement process on the Sir Swante Palm Neighborhood Park as part of the third phase of the Waterloo Greenway Project.
PARD staff restarted the community engagement effort in 2023 since several years had passed since the first outreach, Parks and Rec project manager Lana Denkler explained.
“At that time, feedback from the community included a strong desire for the park and the Palm School to speak to each other and to be connected,” she said.
Denkler said the city and the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy paused the initial outreach effort until there was more certainty on the county’s plans for the school building. The county is now moving forward on a separate community input process that will help inform a vision plan for the building.
“Since it had been some time since we had gone to the community and received their feedback it was decided that we’d go back and do a community re-engagement effort to make sure that what we heard the first time around was still what the community wanted to see,” Denkler said.
In short, community members surveyed want what the community asked for in 2016: respect for Palm Park’s history and its connection to Palm School.
The historic school, which sits adjacent to the park, is owned by Travis County, which rejected the city’s 2020 offer to buy the school. Both the school and the city-owned park are important symbols of Austin’s Mexican American history and culture.
Consultant Laura Cortez and John Rigdon, vice president of projects and planning for the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy, outlined the outreach process and results for parks board members.
Rigdon brought the parks board up to speed on the 35-acre greenway project along Waller Creek. Work is underway on what he called the Confluence, which is Fourth Street and south to Lady Bird Lake, with a focus on trails and restoration of the creek. Once that’s completed, which Rigdon estimated will be next year, work will begin on Palm Park’s restoration.
Cortez said the team solicited input from residents in ZIP codes in Central East Austin and Southeast Austin, in addition to residents attending community events, those who had been involved in the 2016 community engagement process, former Palm School students and their family members, plus people who had grown up going to the park.
“We really wanted to ask some key questions around how they wanted to see the area transformed and what the park should feel like. … they wanted the park to be a cultural anchor, they wanted it to be a place that’s welcome to all, family friendly and also (a park) that could provide information and education around the history of the park,” Cortez said.
Equally important is the public’s desire to maintain the existing trees.
“We have some wonderful historic trees in the site, and those were central to the park’s history,” Rigdon said. “So we want to preserve those and enhance that tree canopy to really take advantage of that great shade and build the future tree canopy connecting to the rest of the park system and stitching that together with an accessible trail network.”
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City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department: The city department responsible for the city's park system, rec centers, and associated infrastructure.
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.
