Five new parks are joining Austin’s parks system, adding much needed green spaces to areas considered to be “park deficient.”
Austin’s Watershed Protection Department has over the years acquired land for things like protecting the environment and managing floodwater. These properties are open green spaces, but because they’re not designated as parkland the city can’t use parkland money to develop them as such.
The City Council on Thursday approved an ordinance naming these five properties as parkland. City Council Member Alison Alter, who led the effort, said the move opens up funding options to make improvements.
“We know these properties can serve the functions they were originally purchased for, but they can also be improved and opened to the public for recreation,” she said.
Acquiring park space in Austin has been increasingly challenging as funding becomes limited and a state law has changed the way cities dedicate parkland. Repurposing city-owned land is one of the ways the city has had to be creative to expand park access.
The city has a goal to establish parks within a 5- to 10-minute walk of all residents.
“We have moved in the last eight years from 65 percent of our community having access [to parks] to now 70 percent,” Alter said. “But we still have more people that don’t have the ability to walk to a park, where they can enjoy fresh air, exercise or just be out in nature. We believe that it’s important to quality of life and to the health of our community.”
With Thursday’s vote, the Parks and Recreation Department will be able to plan the next steps with the community regarding how the properties can be improved and open to public use. Each park will look different, according to city officials.
Robynne Heymans, who works with the city’s park dedication and acquisition team, said the new land offers the opportunity to expand trail access and provide other amenities, including playgrounds and sports fields. One of the properties is a community garden, and this will allow the city to provide support for things like gardening supplies and design improvements.
Michael Minasi/KUT News. The Blackshear Neighborhood Garden will also become official parkland, allowing city funds to be used to make improvements.
“All of these parks will have to go through a community vision planning process before we initiate any park infrastructure,” Heymans said. “Just so that we are responding directly to the needs and desires of the surrounding community.”
Alter said there’s still work to be done to improve park access across Austin, but this was a positive step forward.
