Parks Board Meets Tonight: Waller Beach Parkland for the I-35 Project, a Pease Park Plan, and a New Zilker Park Working Group
The Austin Parks and Recreation Board convenes at 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall with a full agenda - a parkland change at Waller Beach for I-35 CapEx work, a long-term plan for Pease District Park, a school literacy agreement, and two proposed working groups.
Austin's parks get their monthly hearing on Monday night. The Parks and Recreation Board meets at 6 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, Room 1001 at 301 West 2nd Street, in a session open to the public in person and streamed on ATXN Live. Each speaker gets three minutes, and general public comment on items not on the agenda is limited to the first 10 people who sign up before the meeting starts.
The biggest single item ties the parks system to the interstate rebuild. The board will consider recommending that City Council approve a change in use of dedicated parkland at Waller Beach at Town Lake Metro Park, along East Avenue, so Austin Water can build infrastructure for the IH-35 CapEx Project. Austin Water would use about 7,475 square feet permanently and about 3,590 square feet temporarily, and would pay Parks and Recreation a $1,055,440 mitigation payment, so there is no impact to the General Fund. Managing Engineer Kevin Koeller presents the item.
Two items look further ahead. The board will weigh a recommendation that Council approve the Operations and Maintenance Phase Plan for Pease District Park, presented by Christine Chute-Canul of Parks and Recreation and Nicole Netherton, CEO of the Pease Park Conservancy. And it will consider creating a working group on the preservation, conservation, restoration and sustainability of Zilker Park, alongside a second proposed working group with the Givens community on a feasibility plan for a commercial kitchen at the Givens Recreation Center.
The board also takes up people and programs: letters of support for the Community Recreation staff who created the MLS GO youth soccer program, and a recommendation to Council on an interlocal agreement with Austin ISD supporting the Literacy First Program and Tutoring Intervention Program - an initial 12-month term through September 30, 2027, at up to $100,000, with four optional renewals that would bring the maximum total to $500,000. Division Manager David Crabb presents both items. The evening closes with a staff briefing from Parks and Recreation Director Jesús Aguirre and a discussion-only item on adult athletic leagues; no vote is listed on that item.
