The Parks and Recreation Committee wants the City Council to review and possibly repeal a 2019 ordinance that allows an adventure tour company to operate a boating concession in East Austin without going through a public process.

The company, called Expedition School, is about to begin expanding its concession operations along the north shore of Lady Bird Lake at Festival Beach in East Austin, part of the Holly Shores/Edward Rendon Sr. master plan.

But the Parks Management Board, which unanimously approved a resolution by Councilmember Holly Reed on Monday, is requesting a pause in the permitting process to review and determine whether the city was correct in granting an exception to a city ordinance requiring public participation in proposed concessions for city-owned park land.

The committee took this action in response to park residents and other activists who spoke out against the establishment of a commercial enterprise in the park at the committee meeting last month and again on Monday.

The Expedition School has operated as a teaching facility at two different Festival Beach locations since 2006 and is set to expand its operations with a new boat dock in the park’s lagoon area. When the council passed the 2019 ordinance, the school had a teaching contract with the city that did not allow it to operate a boat rental concession. The school has since converted to a nonprofit organization as part of its efforts to become a commercial operator.

Neighbors and stakeholders who helped craft the Holly Shores/Edward Rendon Sr. master plan that the City Council approved in 2014 oppose the concession, which many only recently learned about, and see the concession as yet another example of how gentrification in East Austin threatens to erase the historic and cultural presence of Mexicans in the community.

Latino organizations such as HABLA, La Raza Roundtable and PODER as well as Rewild ATX and Free Zilker also oppose the commercialization of the park.

“Where is the equity when we are not invited, let alone present, when these initiatives are introduced?” asks Ana Aguirre, a resident of District 2. “Communities of color should not continue to play a secondary role.” Aguirre, the president of the Austin Neighborhoods Council, stressed that she was speaking in a personal capacity.

Expedition School representative Katherine Nicely, a planning consultant with Metcalfe Wolff Stuart & Williams, told the panel that her client had done everything the city had asked of them and that they “would like to be as transparent as possible.”

The committee’s meeting materials included letters from individuals and organizations both for and against the Expedition School concession in the park.

David Kinsey of the newly formed Holly Neighborhood Association informed the board that a majority of association members had expressed support for the concession in a survey.

Former council member Sabino “Pio” Renteria, in remote testimony to the board, said he supported the resolution to give the area better access to a location where one can rent a canoe or kayak without having to drive west of I-35, where most boating concessions are located. Renteria also praised the school’s work with people with disabilities.

Elisa Rendon Montoya, a lifelong East Austin resident and vice president of the East Town Lake Citizens Neighborhood Association, told the board she and others have tried for years to preserve the peaceful and tranquil nature of the park without allowing commercial entities to “intrude” on the park named after her father. “I’m one of the dinosaurs who worked for many, many years to preserve this park for our community, for the city of Austin,” she said.

Photo provided under a Creative Commons license.

The Austin Monitor‘s work is made possible by donations from the community. While we occasionally include donors in our reporting, we are careful to separate business and editorial activities while maintaining transparency. A full list of donors can be found here and our Code of Ethics is explained here.

Posted in: Parks, District 3