The Parks and Recreation Board yielded to the authority of city procedure Tuesday when it passed a recommendation for Council to approve an agreement with Pecan Grove Golf Partners to take over the management of Butler Park Pitch & Putt golf course in August. Several residents showed up to defend the longtime manager of the […]
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.
Posted inPlanning
Commission drills down on Grove at Shoal Creek park plans
After years of contentious planning, the Grove at Shoal Creek has broken ground and begun construction on the first two blocks of residences of this mixed-use development in central Northwest Austin. The plan for the accompanying parkland remains under discussion. At the Feb. 26 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board, Robert Deegan, a partner at […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporters Notebook: APD on ICE
Life after SB 4… Following Texas’ Senate Bill 4, also known as the “Sanctuary City bill,” Austin City Council asked that all instances of city collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement be tracked. A Feb. 28 memo from Austin Police Chief Brian Manley sheds light on events from 2018, revealing, “There were 581 instances where APD […]
Posted inAustin
Austin looks to engage residents and preserve ‘Old Austin’ through storytelling
From Wooldridge Square, the birthplace of Austin illustrator Jim Franklin’s legendary Keep Austin Weird concert poster, to Interstate 35’s historic past as a cattle driving route, Austin is built upon the stories and memories of generations past. However, as the city’s population continues to explode and development struggles to keep up, those stories are at risk of […]
Posted inParks
Parks board OKs Givens Park Master Plan
After months of preparation and committee reviews, the Givens District Park Master Plan arrived before the Parks and Recreation Board on Jan. 22 as a consent item, only to be pulled due to members of the public who attended the meeting to ensure that their opinions were heard alongside those of city staff. Larry Thomas, […]
Posted inParks
Even with new funding, parks board says city has a long way to go to repair pools
The year 1996 was the gold standard for Austin’s city Aquatics Division, according to Richard DePalma, a member of the Parks and Recreation Board. Since then, “We’ve just continued to shrink.” At the Dec. 4 meeting of the board, DePalma noted that the Parks and Recreation Department continually lists 40 pools on the books, but […]
Posted inParks
City cemeteries will soon see the light with new bond funding and event space
The city of Austin has operated cemeteries since 1839; however, it was only in 2013 that the Parks and Recreation Department assumed responsibility for cemetery operations, at which point the department made a few changes. Despite funding challenges allowing for only 50 percent of the staff that the city originally allocated for cemeteries, the Parks […]
Posted inParks
The Norwood House may soon get a face-lift
On the northwestern corner of Interstate 35 and Riverside Drive is a plot of land that the city purchased in 1985 and that most Austinites know to be an off-leash dog park. However, also nestled on that same plot of land is a historic 1920s bungalow called the Norwood House. Although until now the bungalow […]
Posted inParks
PARD unburies contract infringement with cemetery contractor
Recently, city auditors found major flaws in how the city manages its contracts, and based on the testimony by a citizen at the Oct. 23 Parks and Recreation Board meeting, the city’s cemetery contract may fall into that category. “We have a contractor that is not complying with his contract,” said Sharon Blythe, a concerned […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Special events ordinance on pace for April 2019 implementation
After six years of drafts and revisions, it appears Austin’s long-brewing special events ordinance will go into effect in April 2019, giving event producers during spring festival season – cityspeak for South by Southwest and spring break – another year to plan for the changes. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board, representatives […]
Posted inParks
City doesn’t want Austin Rowing Club’s special deal to be too sweet
City Council voted in June to grant the Austin Rowing Club the unusual privilege of negotiating a contract renewal with the city without going through the typical bidding process. ARC and Council members argued that the special deal was warranted because the club, which had a five-year contract to operate the city-owned Waller Creek Boathouse […]
Posted inParks
One part of Camelback PUD isn’t controversial: A big new park
The Parks and Recreation Board couldn’t find anything bad to say about the parkland proposed as part of the Camelback PUD, a proposed mixed-use development on a 145-acre plot of land that fronts Lake Austin just west of Loop 360. Members of the board noted nearby residents opposed to the project may have legitimate concerns, […]