Parks board to ask Council to explain why it bypassed public input on a Lady Bird Lake boat rental concession

Members of the Parks and Recreation Board said Monday they will ask City Council to reexamine a 2019 ordinance that circumvented public input to allow an adventure excursion company to operate a boating concession on Lady Bird Lake.

The request for Council reconsideration may be futile, board members also acknowledged. By the time the board formally votes on the item at its August meeting, the company, called the Expedition School, may already have its site plan permit approved, clearing the way for buildout of concession operations at its Festival Beach site in East Austin. The Expedition School has operated on Festival Beach near the Camacho Activity Center since 2006. The school teaches lifeguarding skills and watercraft safety and is recognized for its work with people with disabilities.

At its Monday meeting, parks board members – after hearing from frustrated neighbors and community members – expressed exasperation over the lack of public process typically involved with proposed concessions along the lake.

While Council has authority to waive sections of the city code, as was the case in this instance, parks board members struggled to understand the rationale, especially given the school’s location within the high-profile parkland on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake, which extends from Interstate 35 east to Pleasant Valley Road. The parkland theoretically operates under the guidelines of the Holly Shore/Edward Rendon Sr. Park Master Plan, a yearslong effort that included the work of neighbors who have sought to retain the area’s Mexican American culture and heritage.

While the 2019 ordinance additionally directed staff to amend the park master plan to reflect the inclusion of the concession, the modification has not yet occurred.

At the time Council passed the ordinance, the school held an instructor contract with the city, which did not permit it to operate a concession for boat rentals. The school has since transitioned to a nonprofit as part of its path to becoming a vendor.

It’s unclear why neighbors and community members who helped create the master plan only recently became aware of the ordinance. One possible explanation could be that the item was approved Dec. 5, 2019 – the last regular Council meeting of the year, followed a few months later by the Covid-19 pandemic. Several supporters of the Expedition School attended the Council meeting to speak in favor of the item, sponsored by former Council Member Pio Renteria. No one spoke in opposition.

Elisa Rendon Montoya, whose family has deep roots in the neighborhood, told the board she was “totally against” the concession operation at Edward Rendon Sr. Park, which is named after her father for his many years of East Austin advocacy. She said she worried about the environmental impact the concession would have by locating the boat dock in the lagoon area of the lake.

Daniel Gomez thanked the board for providing a platform to discuss the issue.

“I think this ordinance needs to be rescinded … because it goes against what (the city) promised the neighbors. They said no concessions,” he said. “I doubt very seriously they would let me put up a taco stand and give me parkland.”

Board Member Kathryn Flowers summed up the board’s sentiments about a Council action that stifled community input.

“We’re in a situation where we are relatively limited as a board in terms of what we can do,” she said. “At this point it can’t be righted – it already happened five years ago; there’s damage that was done but I don’t know what we effectively can do to even interrupt the process, though I am willing to consider whatever folks may want to put forward so we can continue the discussion.”

Board Member Holly Reed, who sponsored the discussion item, said she would bring a resolution for consideration at the next parks board meeting.

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