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Environment

waterfall

Watershed Protection budget accounts for approval of CodeNEXT

This year, as the Watershed Protection Department goes through its annual budgeting cycle, things are looking good. At the June 6 meeting of the Environmental Commission, Watershed Protection staff presented an overview of its upcoming projects and the related finances.…

Stratford Lane Redevelopment Project area

Environmental Commission has questions about Zilker Park's proposed parking lot

After the Parks and Recreation Board deferred the Zilker Park Stratford Drive Landfill Redevelopment Project to the Environmental Commission for review hoping for some clarity as to environmental repercussions, the waters only muddied further. Concerns about leaching, automotive abuse of…

boy swimming

PARD patching up two pools as summer sun bears down

As the summer heat tightens its grip on Austin, the city is scrambling to get two public pools sidelined last year by severe leaks back into serviceable shape. On Monday, the Parks and Recreation Department’s acting director, Kimberly McNeeley, sent…

EUC asks Austin Energy to begin planning Council-mandated energy studies

It’s been nine months since City Council passed its ambitious renewable energy plan that requires Austin Energy to push to have 65 percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2027 and to create models that would show what…

barton springs pool

Salamanders key as city considers improvements at Barton Springs

A variety of improvements totaling millions of dollars for the area around Barton Springs will move slowly forward in 2019 and 2020, with the protection of the endangered Barton Springs salamander as the primary consideration of city staff. At a…

Austin Energy financials show revenue is coming from the really rich and the really poor

Austin Energy hit the nail on the head in the second quarter with its actual financial expenditures and income tracking almost exactly to the numbers that it forecast. Even with eight out of 10 City Council districts using below the…

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Stratford Lane Redevelopment Project area

Zilker Park staging area in line to become a parking lot

For years, the back end of the swath of parkland used for the Austin City Limits Festival, the Trail of Lights and the Kite Festival has been repurposed as a sometimes staging area and sometimes parking lot. However, until now,…

Austin's cave frontier gets slowly uncovered

Austin is home to a complex of underground aquifers that we know are filled by a system of underground caves. However, if we know that to be the case, why we don’t see caves everywhere? “Basically, because all of them…

Despite low water usage from Austinites, Austin Water continues to pay down debt

As it happens every year, Austin Water, the city-owned water and wastewater utility, is currently in the midst of planning its budget for the next fiscal year, which will also reflect an updated financial forecast until the year 2023. Although…

broken pavement on trail

Section of Shoal Creek Hike and Bike Trail suffers massive storm damage

Jessica Zarowitz was in for a surprise while walking her dog, Lady Bird, along the Shoal Creek Hike and Bike Trail on Monday: The trail that had been there for years suddenly wasn’t. Trees had fallen over it, and the…

landfill

Garbage companies fight over landfill standards

Over the past two years, City Council has faced challenges in deciding who to pay to haul and dispose of the large amount of trash generated by city facilities. One of the big local trash players, Texas Disposal Systems, has…

Lamar beach

YMCA and city working together for more parking at Lamar Beach

In late 2016, a revised version of the Lamar Beach Master Plan made its way through City Council. It was designed to benefit all the associated stakeholders of the parkland, West Austin Youth Association, Austin Pets Alive! and Austin High…

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