Like many other enterprises, concessions operating in Zilker Park and along Lady Bird Lake suffered various financial impacts last year due to Covid-19, according to a report from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. Gross sales generated by Town Lake Park concessions fell about $1.7 million in Fiscal Year 2020, to about $6.7 million compared to about $8.4 […]
Environment
Posted inWater
ZAP OKs Ullrich plant variances
The Zoning and Platting Commission voted at its Dec. 15 meeting to recommend the approval of seven environmental variances for the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant, with a stipulation that the size of an access road included in the project be verified to be the minimum deviation from code. The property, 141 acres adjacent to the […]
Posted inParks
Parks board tables renaming recommendations for Council
The Parks and Recreation Board has once again taken up the task of suggesting revisions to the city’s naming and renaming ordinance, the law that lays out guidelines for the naming process behind city facilities like parks, sports complexes, pools, and other public gathering places. According to the parks board, “The current process and timeline […]
Posted inWater
Council OKs contract for Ullrich repairs
After a considerable amount of discussion at its Thursday meeting, City Council approved a contract of more than $22 million, plus a 10 percent contingency, for a joint venture to rebuild the electrical pump station serving the Ullrich water treatment plant. Austin Water considers the project “critical to the reliability of the water treatment process” […]
Posted inWater
Garza questions penalties in water reuse rules
City Council is poised to adopt two ordinances at today’s meeting establishing regulations for on-site water reuse systems as well as water cooling towers. Council has unanimously supported the ideas behind the Water Forward plan that are aimed at reducing the use of city-supplied potable water and increasing the use of rainwater, stormwater and graywater. […]
Posted inParks
Discussions continue about Hancock Golf Course’s insolvency
Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Anthony Segura and Division Manager for Golf Operations Kevin Gomillion gave an update on the community engagement status of the Hancock Golf Course’s revenue troubles at the Dec. 4 special Parks and Recreation Board meeting. A six-year financial analysis reveals that since 2015, the golf course has lost over $1 […]
Posted inEnvironment
Environmental Commission approves variances for water treatment plant upgrades
The Environmental Commission on Friday approved a series of environmental variances for improvements to the Albert H. Ullrich water treatment plant near Tom Miller Dam and Red Bud Isle west of downtown Austin. A total of seven variances are needed to construct a new electrical building, retaining walls, new electrical and mechanical equipment and duct […]
Posted inEnvironment
With winter coming, city works on treatment for toxic blue-green algae
The Water Oversight Committee met the last week of October to hear an update on the toxic algae that resulted in the deaths of at least five dogs in Austin last year. Brent Bellinger, a research ecologist with the Watershed Protection Department, informed the committee about the harmful algae in Lady Bird Lake and how […]
Posted inEnvironment
Residents may be able to reject herbicide
City Council approved contracts on Thursday with Asplundh Tree Expert, Davey Tree Surgery and Wright Tree Service to manage vegetation around Austin Energy lines after Council Member Ann Kitchen added some direction to staff about a previously unknown aspect of vegetation removal: the use of herbicides. Kitchen said she had learned about the herbicide use […]
Posted inParks
Parks board wants bigger say on financial, budget issues
The Parks and Recreation Board is making a move to dive deeper into the financial and budgetary issues that affect the city’s parks department. At the board’s Oct. 27 meeting, Board Member Sarah Faust made a recommendation to modify the board’s bylaws to terminate its Land, Facilities and Programs Committee and replace it with a […]
Posted inParks
Council OKs purchase of Wood Street parkland
After a lengthy discussion about the rules regulating acquisition of city parkland, Council voted 7-2-2 on Thursday to purchase 0.214 acres of downtown property at 702 Wood St. Council members Jimmy Flannigan and Pio Renteria voted no, and Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison and Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza abstained. Renteria complained that the $1,174,250 price […]
Posted inWater
Proposed discharge permit draws ire of city, Environmental Commission
The Environmental Commission received an update Wednesday on the impacts of a proposed wastewater treatment plant southwest of Austin. Abel Porras, the supervising engineer in the Environmental Resource Management Division of the city’s Watershed Protection Department, described the water quality impacts from proposed wastewater discharge into Barton Creek. The Sawyer-Cleveland Partnership has applied to the […]