The motor racing track Circuit of the Americas has long been known for big-name concerts and Formula 1 races. In the future, however, the development may become better known for its water park, parkland and residential uses. With 1,037 acres of developable land located east of State Highway 130 and north of Farm to Market […]
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 inLand Development Code
Parks board asks Council to add commercial projects to parkland dedication ordinance
The Parks and Recreation Board has asked for a change to the city’s parkland dedication ordinance that would require commercial developments to set aside parkland or make a fee-in-lieu payment to the city. The resolution unanimously approved at last week’s parks board meeting asks City Council to expand the applicability of the ordinance to include […]
Posted inParks
Parks board does deep dive on Austin City Limits Fest contract for Zilker Park
The city’s contract with Austin City Limits promoter C3 Presents was put under the microscope at Tuesday’s meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board, as part of an overall look at how the Parks and Recreation Department can generate more revenue to fund its programming and maintenance costs. No action was taken at the conclusion […]
Posted inCity Hall
Working group to examine changes in how to rename Austin’s parks facilities
The Parks and Recreation Board has started the process to ask City Council to amend an ordinance that dictates the process for renaming parks facilities. At its meeting last week the board voted 6-2 to form a three-member working group to research and recommend changes to the ordinance, which was last amended in early 2016. […]
Posted inParks
Parks board members call for better oversight of city’s bond spending
Members of the Parks and Recreation Board lobbed criticism at the city’s Bond Oversight Commission over frustration that the group has canceled the majority of its meetings since late 2018 and failed to properly review the city’s use of bond dollars. The comments came during a staff briefing Tuesday on the parks department’s capital improvement […]
Posted inParks
Parks board expresses concern over metered parking in public parks
After postponing their decision in October about parking meters on city parkland, the Parks and Recreation Board broached the subject again at its Dec. 3 meeting. Following a long discussion about the equity and access issues that accompany metered parking, the board voted to form a working group to investigate a solution to the parking […]
Posted inParks
Community members divided over renaming of Dove Springs Recreation Center
After the Parks and Recreation Board unanimously supported the name change of the Dove Springs Recreation Center at its Oct. 22 meeting, the discussion item reappeared on the agenda on Dec. 3. Yet despite dozens of community members signed up to speak in an overflowing room, city staff withdrew the item. Parks and Recreation Director […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Parks board recommends that the Parkland Dedication Ordinance remain untouched
The city of Austin has had a Parkland Dedication Ordinance as part of its Land Development Code since 1985. The ordinance has been updated three times since its institution, with the most recent iteration in 2016, after two years of engagement from both the public and experts. As a result of that collaboration, the ratio […]
Posted inTransportation
Parks board member ‘completely opposed’ to meters in parks
Last week, the city of Austin changed the prices on its parking meters for the first time in nearly 30 years. Prices jumped from $1.20 inside the city’s downtown core – $1 outside of that core – to $2 an hour at all metered stations. Jason Redfern with the Austin Transportation Department told the Parks […]
Posted inPublic Health
On second try, parks board OKs land use for Dove Springs health center
A public health center requested by residents of the Dove Springs area for nearly a decade was given an OK by the city’s Parks and Recreation Board on Tuesday, setting up the use of 2.6 acres of parkland to hold the facility. The 8-1-1 vote, in which Francoise Luca voted against and Nina Rinaldi abstained, […]
Posted inParks
Walter E. Long Park plan, all $800 million of it, gets parks board approval
With an eventual price tag expected to exceed $800 million and a timeline likely stretching more than two decades, members of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Board unanimously voted to approve a new master plan for East Austin’s Walter E. Long Park. At last week’s meeting, the board drilled into several components of the five-phase plan […]
Posted inParks
Start of summertime brings trash to Austin’s greenbelts
Austin’s greenbelts, though beautiful, have had a fraught history of visitors contaminating the wild beauty of the Central Texas landscape with their trash. At the May 28 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board meeting, Board Member Rich DePalma brought parks department staff and board members’ attention to this unfortunate, ongoing issue. DePalma said he […]