The Muny agreement's ground rules: 65-foot heights, 75% impervious cover and a 200-foot lake setback. The council gets a briefing Nov. 17

The city has posted its case for the Lions Municipal Golf Course deal. A staff memo for Item 50 on the council's Nov. 19 agenda, and a matching city web page, set out the limits on private development of the University of Texas land next to the course. The council gets a public briefing first, at its 9 a.m. work session on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

The item would authorize amendments to the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement between the city and UT. The amendments would also set up the course's transfer to the city, a land swap of city rights-of-way, a new tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) and a "regulating plan" for development. Staff list it as having no fiscal impact.

The limits

According to the staff recommendation and the city's Brackenridge page, the amended agreement would set three parameters for any future private development on the 190 acres UT owns in the Brackenridge tract:

• Building heights capped at 65 feet when viewed from Lake Austin Boulevard.
• Impervious cover limited to 75% sitewide.
• A 200-foot setback from Lady Bird Lake.

The memo adds a qualifier. The tract-specific requirements and "limited environmental regulations" apply "for non-University/State purposes." In other words, the rules govern private development, not land UT or the state uses for its own purposes.

Why staff say the old deal needs changing

Staff call the 1989 agreement "outdated and not as favorable as it could be for the City of Austin or its residents." They give three reasons: it has dated or missing standards, it limits the city's role in development, and it makes the city responsible for planning, funding and building utility infrastructure for the property.

On the course itself, the memo says Muny "will be conveyed to the City of Austin as a component of the agreement" with "the support of a generous donor." It does not name the donor or a dollar amount. The course covers about 141 acres and draws more than 75,000 rounds a year. The city has run it under a month-to-month lease since 2019, the memo says.

What comes later

The tax zone and the regulating plan are not in this vote. The city says both will be drafted after the council acts and returned to boards, commissions and the council in spring 2027. The amended agreement would also lay out an update to UT's lease at Mueller.

What our records add

The Mueller lease. At the Oct. 21 Audit and Finance Committee, city real estate staff said 11 acres were leased to UT in 2006 for a medical school that moved elsewhere. They said the city would recommend amending the lease, as part of the Brackenridge agreement, to allow housing and child care.

Commissions. The memo lists staff briefings to the Environmental Commission on Oct. 21 and the Planning Commission on Oct. 27. It also lists recommendation votes by the Environmental Commission on Nov. 4 and the Planning Commission on Nov. 10. As of Wednesday we had not found either recommendation posted.

Tax zones divide this council. The last vote creating a tax zone, for Dog's Head in July, passed 7-3.

Who is presenting. The work session item lists Assistant City Manager Eric Johnson and Trish Link, a division chief in the City Attorney's Office.

Our earlier stories covered the October announcement and what UT would get.

What's next

• Nov. 17, 9 a.m.: Council work session briefing.
• Nov. 19: Council vote on Item 50.
• UT: The Board of Regents must also act.
• Spring 2027: Regulating plan and tax zone.

Muny is in District 10, represented by Council Member Marc Duchen.