Council, parks department and East Austin residents continue clash over city-owned Nash Hernandez building

City Council, Austin’s parks department and East Austin residents are still at odds over plans for a vacant facility at Festival Beach.

The Nash Hernandez building, which has sat idle since 2009, was earmarked for Parks and Recreation Department offices and community space until last year, when Council action redirected staff to explore redevelopment as a senior services facility. East Austin residents took to the stand at last week’s Parks and Recreation Board meeting to defend the original plan for the building, arguing the public health facility was out of step with the community’s needs.

“The most important factor here is the loss of parkland,” said speaker Phil Thomas. “Parkland must be undedicated for the Intergenerational Resource and Activity Center to operate at Nash Fernandez. … East Town Lake Citizens Neighborhood Association and Deep Holly Advocates firmly support the original plan that was already underway – the plan that was supported by the community and adopted by Council.”

The plan in question dates back to 2014, when Council unanimously approved an ambitious framework of facility improvements for the 90 acres of parkland bordering Lady Bird Lake between Interstate 35 and Pleasant Valley Road. Since then, the city has been making its way through the sprawling list of capital improvement projects, including new trails, water fountains, picnic benches, playscapes, bathrooms and shade structures.

With $3.3 million in funding ready for discharge, plans to renovate and reopen the Nash Hernandez building were suddenly derailed in June 2022, when outgoing Council Member Pio Renteria brought forth a resolution asking staff to conduct a feasibility study for the building’s use as an Intergenerational Resource and Activity Center, or IRAC. The IRAC pilot program, devised in a collaboration between Austin Public Health and the University of Texas, would provide recreational and health services for low-income seniors and children.

The feasibility study concluded such a project would come with an estimated $8.2 million to $11 million price tag, a figure leading PARD Director Kimberly McNeeley to withhold her support. Still, Council continues to push for further exploration, leaving those who participated in the park’s original planning process feeling blindsided.

“We have a lot of people that want to take our parks away. This 90 acres of parkland that has been preserved by the Chicano community. … We don’t want that swapped or traded,” said East Town Lake Citizens Neighborhood Association President Bertha Delgado. “Please consider the community and the Vision Plan that’s already been adopted … and leave Chicano Park alone.”

The continuing debate comes just months after the Texas Legislature passed a new state law significantly restricting Austin’s parkland dedication fee system, which previously required 9.4 acres of parkland or proportionate funding be offered for every 1,000 residents accommodated in a new development. The new rule, which goes into effect Jan. 1 next year, limits this figure to just 0.73 acres.

McNeeley says PARD is continuing to evaluate the potential IRAC project per Council’s orders, with additional findings slated for release this November. The debate is expected to continue at the board’s next meeting, scheduled Nov. 27.

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Posted In: Parks, District 3