Pease Park's nonprofit partner would take over upkeep of most of the park under a Nov. 5 plan

The nonprofit that runs Kingsbury Commons in Pease Park would take over day-to-day upkeep of almost the whole park under a plan on the Austin City Council's Nov. 5 consent agenda. The phase plan, item 20, expands the Pease Park Conservancy's role from about seven acres to roughly 67 more acres of the 84-acre park along Shoal Creek, between 15th and 31st streets.

For park users, the change would mean the conservancy, not the city, empties trash and dog-waste stations, removes graffiti, keeps up volleyball courts and picnic tables, and coordinates events and volunteers across most of the park. City staff say it will cost the city nothing extra and offset some of its costs.

What the plan does

The city and the conservancy signed a 25-year park operations and maintenance agreement on Jan. 12, 2023, according to the staff recommendation. It covered Kingsbury Commons, the area the conservancy rebuilt with about $10 million in private money and reopened in 2021. The agreement set up a phased path for the group to take on more of the park, with each phase approved by the council.

In the first year of the new phase, the plan says, the conservancy would take on these tasks in 12 more zones, including Live Oak Meadow, Gaston Green, Polecat Hollow and The Bluffs:

• emptying trash, recycling and dog-waste stations once each weekday;
• finding and removing graffiti, except on the historic bridges at 24th and 29th streets, which stay with the city;
• maintaining volleyball courts, picnic tables, signs and railings;
• removing invasive plants and planting new areas, including a bamboo removal project at Ramble Scramble.

The conservancy estimates those year-one costs at $259,000, mostly staff, including a new full-time operations technician. That adds about 92 hours of staff time a week. No capital projects are planned in the first year. Future improvements over the next 15 to 20 years would follow the park's 2014 vision plan and need their own approvals.

The summary also says the conservancy would coordinate all volunteering, programming, rentals and concessions park-wide, and would have exclusive use of the park for marketing and fundraising. The city keeps the East Bank, about 10 acres east of North Lamar, out of the agreement.

Money. Under the current agreement, the conservancy puts at least $50,000 a year toward land management outside Kingsbury Commons. Concession revenue from the park's food trucks, $26,294 in fiscal 2025, goes to the conservancy and may only be used for park operations, the plan says. New concessions would still have to follow city rules.

What our records add

The parks board backed it 8-0. On Oct. 26 the Parks and Recreation Board recommended approval 8-0, with three members absent. The motion was made by Chair Stephanie Bazan and seconded by Ted Eubanks.

A long council history. The staff recommendation lists council actions going back to 2014: the vision plan that year, a 2020 resolution directing staff to formalize partnerships with park nonprofits, the 2021 authorization of the agreement, and approvals of the conservancy's programming plans in 2022 and 2023. A November 2024 resolution told staff to look for more ways to pay for parks, including public-private partnerships. Those votes predate the records we track. The partnership model has spread since. At the council's Aug. 4 bond meeting, a speaker for the nonprofit Zilker 351 said the group formed in 2022 after the council recognized that parks need nonprofit partners.

Part of a busy parks agenda. The same Nov. 5 agenda has a $100,000-a-year agreement with Austin ISD for the Literacy First tutoring program, which the parks board backed 9-0, and land for the Rutland to Northgate Trail. Voters will decide $295 million in parks and library bonds on Nov. 3. Our bond story has the council's vote.

The item's record is 26-2956.

What's next

The council meets Nov. 5. Consent items pass in one vote unless a member pulls one for discussion. If approved, the conservancy would phase in the new duties zone by zone as it adds staff, the plan says.