Southwest Austin - Dripping Springs Edition - November 2021

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1 Brook Crest Neighborhood Park Acreage: 9.04 Cost: $279,626.60 2 Brownie Neighborhood Park Acreage: 6.4081 Cost: $831,899 3 Clawson Neighborhood Park Acreage: 3.0154 Cost: $2,301,605 4 College Row Pocket Park Acreage: 0.6303 Cost: $2,2141,501 5 Cooper Neighborhood Park Acreage: 4.957 Cost: $2,218,083 6 Country Club Creek Greenbelt Acreage: 1.148 Cost: $57,999 7 Georgian Pocket Park Acreage: 0.2571 Cost: $360,902 8 Hill County View Neighborhood Park

Acreage: 3.2889 Cost: $431,224 9 Little Walnut Creek Greenbelt Acreage: 0.222 Cost: $185,000 10 Tahoe Trail Park Acreage: 0.308 Cost: $13,022.68 11 Texas Oaks Neighborhood Park Acreage: 4.2 Cost: $4,224,288 Acreage: 0.192 Cost: $106,000 13 Williamson Creek Greenbelt East Acreage: 6.51 Cost: $183,195 14 Williamson Creek Greenbelt West Acreage: 2.66 Cost: $1,286,353 15 Wood Street 12 Theckla Pocket Park

Over the past six years, Austin has increased the amount of parkland available to residents. The greenspaces below were added through fees paid by developers.

with her goldendoodle. Haimes moved to Austin two years ago, following her adult children. “When I go home and people say, ‘How do you like Austin?’ I will always say I love the green space, I love the music,” Haimes said. Austin’s parks are one of the city’s biggest draws for newcomers, said Heidi Anderson, executive director of the Trail Foundation. “People have come to visit for whatever reason and they went on [Lady Bird Lake Trail], and that was the deciding moment when they realized they wanted to move,” Anderson said. Just being able to see green space is associated with greater mental wellbeing, said University of Texas professor Stacy Jorgensen, whose research has examined conservation and public health. A 2011 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that planting greenery in vacant lots in Philadelphia was associated with consistent reductions in gun assaults and vandalism. Residents near lots that had been lled with plants also reported less stress andmore exercise than those living near untended vacant lots. “One of the most important things is literal proximity,” Jorgensen said. “People need park space in their neighborhoods, like a collection of pocket parks.” Pocket parks—small green spaces in otherwise decient areas—might have the greatest aect on the city’s overall rates of depression, anxiety and obesity, Jorgensen said. “Your chances of going outside, going on a walk, go up exponentially if there’s a park close to where you live,” said Colin Wallis, CEO of Austin Parks Foundation. Developersmake their case RECA CEO Dianne Bangle said the city’s formula for the parkland fee for developers is problematic. She said land prices went up by about 30% in Austin during the last year, while the parkland fees more than doubled. The city calculates the parkland dedication fee each year based on the amount of dedication fees it has spent on park acres over the last ve years. Excess fees will be passed on to owners and renters with higher prices, Bangle said. Meghan Lash, an aordable housing developer and member of RECA, said at an Oct. 21 City Council meeting, it will hurt complexes with low cost or aordable units the most, as it is already dicult

THECKLA POCKET PARK

BROWNIE NEIGHBORHOOD PARK

360

183

MOPAC

MAGGIE QUINLANCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

WOOD STREET SETTLEMENT POCKET PARK

MAGGIE QUINLAN COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

DRACY SPRAGUECOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

COLORADO RIVER

290

130 TOLL

TAHOE TRAIL PARK

Settlement Pocket Park

Acreage: 0.2146 Cost: $1,166,686

183

MAGGIE QUINLAN COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

MAP NOT TO SCALE N

SOURCES: CITY OF AUSTIN, PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENTCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

instrumental

the

parkland

is important to make sure parks are not overcrowded or overused. One way the city funds the park growth is with fees paid by builders. Every time a developer creates new housing, the city requires that they either add parkland or pay a fee. Althoughdevelopers havepaid such fees for decades, a 2016 change to the city’s parkland dedication ordinance increased parkland dedication fees to more closely reect the cost of land, Council Member Alison Alter said. She said the fees have been

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acquisition strategy. In October, the city raised the cost by 124% due to land costs, Alter said. Real Estate Council of Austin members said the city’s fees could lead to more expensive housing. “Parkland is and always will be incredibly important for our residents, but aordability in this city is at least as important,” RECA Director of Advocacy Alina Carnahan said at an Oct. 21 City Council meeting. Alter said developers are “trying to decimate” the fee system. “They’re using this false choice of aordability when it really comes down to, they don’t want to give up some of their prots to help with what makes Austin,

enough land—548 acres—to keep up with the population. “Our population is growing so much and [so is] the demand for recreation and the pressure on our central parks,” said Ricardo Soliz, who manages park planning in the Austin Parks and Recreation Department. Soliz said parkland is important for people’s mental and physical health. He said hitting the city’s goal of 24 acres per 1,000 residents

CmBg cO, cLbI fE The city calculates parkland fees for developers based on the average price of recent park purchases.

PARKLAND DEDICATION FEE PER UNIT OVER TIME

FY 201617

Austin,” Alter said. Why parksmatter

29%

FY 201718

14%

On Nov. 2, Jill Haimes explored the newly opened Waterloo Park

LOWDENSITY FEE No more than 6 units per acre

FY 201819

10%

MEDIUMDENSITY More than 6 but fewer than 12 units per acre HIGHDENSITY More than 12 units per acre

FY 201920

0.09%

FY 202021

124%

Xx% PERCENT CHANGE YEAR OVER YEAR

FY 202122

SOURCE: AUSTIN PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENTCOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER