City and Pease Park Conservancy make it official

The city of Austin announced yesterday that it had formalized a “park operations and maintenance agreement” with Pease Park Conservancy on Jan. 13. The agreement means that the city will share management of Kingsbury Commons with the conservancy moving forward, though a partnership has been in effect since 2021, and establishes a phasing plan to transition more maintenance and conservation duties to the conservancy in the future. “The relationship with Pease Park supporters began over 15 years ago with a community driven Adopt-A-Park group dedicated to stewarding the trees at Pease District Park. The recently executed agreement solidifies the partnership between Pease Park Conservancy and the city of Austin. The Parks and Recreation Department is excited to formalize this partnership and to continue working together towards a shared goal,” Parks and Recreation Director Kimberly McNeeley said in a statement to the press. In addition to fundraising for renovation of the park, the Pease Park Conservancy staff has been a daily presence there. A news release about the agreement outlined the responsibilities of the conservancy, which include cleaning bathrooms and facilities, performing safety inspections, operating and maintaining the splash pad, maintaining planting beds, coordinating events and reservations, and emptying trash and recycling throughout the day.