Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 9:30 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Climate, Water, Environment, and Parks Committee
The committee heard three public speakers, all business or development representatives from Lake Austin, who said they support a drawdown of Lake Austin but asked that it be moved from the planned October 12 to November 30 window to January and February. Austin Water, Watershed Protection and Development Services staff explained that LCRA no longer conducts winter drawdowns since Winter Storm Uri, that spring was ruled out because of flooding, downstream releases and fish spawning, and that an expedited by-right permit with a three-to-five-day turnaround will be offered for dock, bulkhead and sediment work during the drawdown. Austin Climate Action and Resilience presented its FY2026 performance measures, including a community carbon footprint of 11.5 million metric tons against a 5.8 million target, and $2.5 million awarded through the Urban Forest Replenishment Fund. Austin Resource Recovery briefed members on promoting on-demand brush and household hazardous waste collection for wildfire mitigation, and staff agreed to report updated collection and app-usage data after the campaign ends. The minutes were approved without objection.
0:04 All right. Good morning everybody.
0:06 Apologies for my tardiness.
0:08 It is nine thirty six. We will call this meeting of the climate water environment and parks committee to order.
0:16 It is August 25th. Is that right?
0:19 That's right. Uh, 26.
0:23 I'm, there we go.
0:24 I'm a day off.
0:25 And we are, we have a full, um, everyone's here.
0:31 So without further ado, we'll just start with public, uh, speakers.
0:35 Do we have any public speakers this morning?
0:36 Yes, sir. We have three.
0:37 Alright. Um, tara carr, david s and jonathan c**n.
1:04 Good morning, chair Alter and members of the committee.
1:07 My name is tara carr.
1:09 I manage lake Austin marina, and I'm a member of the lake Austin stakeholder group.
1:14 I attended your July meeting, but arrived a little late to speak, and after hearing that discussion, I
1:19 made it a priority to be here today.
1:21 First, I'd like to say words matter.
1:24 Hydrilla is not simply nuisance vegetation.
1:27 It is a non-native invasive aquatic plant and a federally listed noxious weed.
1:33 The city's July memo reports invasive vegetation covering 40.6% of lake Austin already exceeding the upper end of
1:41 its own stated management range of 30%.
1:44 So why do city communications continue to soften the language?
1:48 Let's call hydra what it is and manage it accordingly.
1:51 Second, I need to address public safety.
1:54 At the July meeting, environmental officer johnston stated, lake patrol had not communicated specific safety concerns related to
2:01 hydrilla. As a stakeholder who communicates with lake patrol virtually every day, I found that incredibly discouraging.
2:09 We are seeing loss of propulsion, restricted access, swimmers and skiers, encountering dense vegetation and boats and personal
2:16 watercraft being pushed into increasingly concentrated navigable areas.
2:21 Those are safety concerns, not anecdotes.
2:24 Since that meeting, significant flood water has passed through lake Austin and tom miller dam.
2:30 How many recently stopped grass carp May have passed through tom miller dam.
2:35 And will we have a post blood survey telling us what the lake actually looks like now for
2:39 both vegetation and fish?
2:42 That seems like invaluable data for adaptive management.
2:45 Are we collecting it?
2:47 I support the city's decision to conduct a drawdown, but I strongly question the economic consideration given to
2:54 its timing. The city plans to lower lake Austin from October 12th to November 30th, instead of the historically utilized
3:00 winter months, the city's memo carefully calculates the financial exposure with lost lcra power generation 7,000 under normal
3:09 conditions, potentially up to 68,000.
3:12 Under extraordinary conditions, it discusses air caught power prices.
3:17 And why October and November reduce that financial risk?
3:21 The city has clearly done the math on its own economic exposure.
3:25 Where is that math for ours?
3:27 Where is the economic impact analysis for marinas, restaurants, boat clubs, rental companies, service providers, their employees and
3:34 tourism? At my business alone, historic field deliveries.
3:39 In October, roughly average seven to nine times that of the January and February levels, the city has
3:46 quantified the economic risk associated with the drawdown to lcra and itself only.
3:51 It has not quantified the economic risk.
3:54 It is transferring to the businesses that depend on the lake.
3:57 I support the drawdown and I support adaptive management.
4:00 But adaptive management requires considering all of the impacts, environmental, safety, recreational, and economic.
4:07 Thank you. Can I just so I can put a, a finer point, you're just that you, you
4:14 want the draw down, but to be in January that if I, if I'm suming summing up.
4:20 Yes. And also with the data that they've been trying to collect and it lining up.
4:26 Alright. I just wanna make sure I was a hundred percent clear.
4:28 Thank you so much.
4:28 Thank you.
4:33 David cajas.
4:43 All right. Good morning.
4:44 My name is david cajas and my family and I own float on boat rentals.
4:47 We have 18 boats in our fleet and employ about 20 people here in Austin.
4:53 Um, 25 to be exact on lake Austin.
4:57 Uh, born and raised to austinite austinite.
4:59 My family immigrated here from columbia, mexico in the eighties, and we've called Austin home our entire life.
5:03 We're a first generation family business and lake Austin isn't just where we operate, it's how we pay
5:09 our team and feed our families.
5:11 Um, also opposing the timing of the drawdown.
5:14 The to learn was such short notice that the lake will be closed during one of our busiest
5:18 times of the year, is really devastating.
5:21 It overlaps with ut football season and formula one weekends when some of our clients come to Austin
5:26 and book with us.
5:27 Uh, we also service a range of private clients through our management division that live on the lake
5:32 or call Austin country club home based on experience with previous drawdowns.
5:37 Even when it begins refilling, it can take a long time for water to settle and clear.
5:42 So realistically, you know, we'll probably be closed through the end of the year.
5:45 Um, I don't think we've been given enough time to prepare, and if things aren't, you know, if
5:50 action isn't taken, the reservations will have to cancel and many of these customers will have to find
5:55 somewhere else to go.
5:56 Um, asking y'all to reconsider the small businesses and employees whose livelihood depend on lake Austin.
6:02 And if the draw down moves forward in this rush timelines, you know, wondering if there'll be financial
6:07 assistance for affected small businesses, something like what happened during covid so we can continue to pay our
6:12 employees. Um, we're simply asking for more time and consideration and a plan for the people whose livelihood
6:19 depend on the lake.
6:27 Jonathan kuhn.
6:38 There we go. Thanks.
6:40 Uh, my name's jonathan c**n.
6:41 Uh, I know people are appropriately skeptical of real estate developers.
6:45 Uh, we're building four seasons like Austin, uh, but we live here in Austin and we plan to
6:50 live, uh, in the development and be neighbors here.
6:53 Uh, during the entitlement process, we donated 12 home lots on the cliff, uh, to become a public
6:58 park on lake Austin and 2,400 feet of our shoreline, uh, to provide safe and legal access where
7:04 people are currently parking next to five no parking signs.
7:08 Um, if you're curious, the only reason the trash is picked up on the side of the highway,
7:12 um, is because we do it, uh, three times a week.
7:15 Um, during the entitlement process, we earned the support of all nine hoa, uh, homeowners associations nearby, uh,
7:22 3000 homeowners. Um, 75 of those neighborhood leaders came here to City Hall to endorse the project.
7:28 Um, and we got nine separate letters also endorsing the project signed by our neighbors.
7:32 We had a really simple process.
7:33 We met with our neighbors, asked them what they wanted, and did what they asked.
7:37 Um, we want to be good stewards of this land and good neighbors.
7:41 Um, we, uh, some people think that we asked for this late closure.
7:44 We did not. I wanna set the record straight on that.
7:47 Uh, we finally closed it on our loan two months ago and started construction.
7:52 Um, some, uh, we would never ask the city to close any public access to lake Austin just
7:58 so that we could help with our construction.
8:00 Um, especially not during football season in f1.
8:03 We're not opposed to a drawdown.
8:05 Think it's a good idea, we're in favor of it.
8:07 We think it should be in January and February like it always was.
8:11 Um, it's my understanding the city has assumed this is impossible because of the winter storm in 2021,
8:17 but to my knowledge, the city has not received a written response from the state saying that this
8:20 is impossible. And I highly doubt the state has accounted for the economic impact and the engine that
8:26 lake Austin is for the city.
8:28 Um, or the fact that, uh, from what I can tell online, uh, this dam represents about 0.02%
8:36 of or cut power and less than 1% of austin's power.
8:41 It seems like those two things ought to be imbalanced and a decision shouldn't be made on the
8:45 timeline. And assuming that January, February is impossible, unless we get a written response from the state saying
8:50 that, it's impossible. Thank you.
9:00 All right, well, I'm gonna do things a little out of order here just 'cause our speakers are
9:06 here. Austin water staff is here.
9:09 Uh, we were gonna have this just be a discussion if anybody wanted by memorandum of item number
9:14 four. But I'm gonna have, uh, I don't know if it'd be director rolson or, uh, liz johnston,
9:23 um, or whomever, whoever I should say.
9:33 I was wondering if someone could just speak to, did we look at the January time law timeframe?
9:40 I know my, my first thought and the speaker mentioned a little bit that, you know, we have
9:45 seen severe weather occur and typically that early February timeframe, kind of very end of January, early February,
9:54 and that might be a concern about an additional cost for their 'cause of a additional requirement for
10:03 the electricity generation. But I'm just curious, was January contemplated and, and could you just speak to that?
10:12 Good morning council members chair.
10:15 Um, I'm shay raw roon.
10:17 I'm the director of Austin water.
10:18 Um, so that you know who you have in front of you, I'm gonna let the, uh, these
10:23 folks introduce themselves as well.
10:25 Hi, I'm theresa lutz, acting, uh, assistant director with Austin water.
10:31 Liz johnston, environmental officer, watershed protection morning, keith myers, director of Austin development services.
10:38 So, to the question about, um, being able to do the drawdown in January and February, as we
10:44 had done previously prior to, uh, winter storm uri in 2021, um, we had discussions with lcra and
10:53 they indicated that they, they do not do drawdowns in the winter months since winter storm uri.
10:59 Um, the spring is a possibility and the fall is a possibility.
11:03 And so, um, as early as our, uh, memo to Mayor and council in October of last year
11:11 of 2025, we indicated that the, that the likely timeframe for this drawdown was October, November.
11:17 Um, and, um, and further in conversations with, um, texas parks and wildlife, texas parks and wildlife, they
11:26 indicated that the spring timeframe is, and, and it's, we can talk more about the spring timeframe, but
11:32 that's unworkable for other reasons as well.
11:35 And can you remind us how, how long from when we start the draw down to then it
11:40 being at that draw down level and then refilling, what are, what are those timelines?
11:44 So the way the drawdown process works is, um, lake Austin is a, is a, essentially a pass
11:50 through lake. It's also the lake that, um, Austin water takes water from for our two largest water
11:56 treatment plants. So the process for drawing down lake Austin is to hold water that would normally be
12:05 passed from lake travis through mansfield dam in lake travis, and then allow the water in lake Austin
12:11 to be beneficially used.
12:13 Uh, and so that's downstream.
12:14 It'll be released from the dam for downstream uses, uh, Austin water will use it for our drinking
12:20 water plants. Other water uses on the lake will help draw it down.
12:24 Um, lcra anticipates that, um, it would draw down no faster than one foot per day, um, but
12:31 that it could take as long as three weeks to draw it down.
12:34 Refilling it is somewhat more predictable.
12:37 Um, they intend to refill it at a rate that is done by releasing water from lake travis
12:42 that's been stored there.
12:43 And they anticipate refilling it at a rate of up to two feet per day.
12:48 So about about five days, five to six days to refill it at the back end.
12:52 And how long do we hold it down?
12:55 Our goal is to hold it down for four weeks, um, for, um, for property owners to have
13:01 time to do maintenance on their docks and bulkheads and, and remove sediment.
13:06 Um, and of course that, and so we're attempting to begin the drawdown as late as possible while
13:14 concluding by November 30th. Okay.
13:17 And liz, the, I remember the conversation from last time, you mentioned actually that drawing down the water,
13:27 it's separate from the hydrilla issue, that the, whatever it is, it's too deep into the ground and,
13:34 and too to something, um, that drawing the lake down that's really about maintenance.
13:40 It's not about, we couldn't just like mow it down, uh, to manage that.
13:46 Uh, that is correct.
13:47 It will not kill the hydra.
13:50 So drawdowns could have, uh, um, uh, an effect on controlling another invasive species, eurasian milfoil.
13:58 Um, the hydra will bounce back.