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November 20, 2009
City bills ACL organizers $25,000 for lawn cleanup
Austin City Limits organizer C3 Presents owes the City of Austin $25,529 in charges related to restoring Zilker Park’s Great Lawn, which was damaged during this year’s muddy three-day music festival.
The charges, which were included in a bill the city gave C3 Thursday, include:
- Time city employees spent helping to restore the lawn: $15,529
- Keeping the lawn closed Oct. 10-29 to revive the lawn: $10,000
The city listed other charges that were related to the festival but not to the grass:
- Austin Energy workers kept on stand-by during the festival, to deal with any electrical issues: $15,335
- Other staff time costs: $5,882
- Installing temporary ramps to get equipment and trucks into the park for the festival: $4,474
C3 will have 10 business to pay the city — Dec. 3. Also due will be a $1-per-ticket fee that is part of C3’s contract with the city. C3 is responsible for calculating the amount.
The bill does not include private crews and equipment that C3 paid for to restore the 46-acre Great Lawn. The Parks Department plans to replace an acre of the lawn this spring, at a cost of about $15,000. C3 would be billed for that when the work is done.
C3 had already paid the city $25,000 in fees to rent out Zilker Park before, during and after the festival.
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October 29, 2009
Zilker Park Great Lawn reopening
Zilker Park’s Great Lawn will re-open tomorrow, the Parks and Recreation Department announced today.
The 46-acre lawn was closed for restoration of the turf following the rain-drenched Austin City Limits Festival earlier this month.
Officials said an acre of turf will need to be replaced in the spring.
The lawn was closed earlier this year, through August, as parks staff installed a $2.5 million irrigation system and new turf, a Bermuda grass called Tifway. ACL organizer C3 Presents will reimburse the city the cost over the next five years, and is supposed to pay for any repairs to the grass.
Recent heavy rains have saturated some areas, and city staff are asking park patrons to avoid those areas to minimize damage to the turf. Crews will continue to work on restoring parts of the lawn, officials said.
Parks officials said the lawn looks different because the turf has started to become dormant because of cooler fall temperatures. They said the turf should return to its green lush state in the spring.
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October 16, 2009
Two companies bid to run Trail of Lights
Two companies have applied to run the annual Trail of Lights, but only one is still in the running.
The City of Austin Parks Department is looking to turn the popular December event over to a private company to save money in a tight budget year. Parks officials have said the city loses about $500,000 on the event each year, partly because it has had free admission.
The city began seeking proposals in July, and received two. The city’s purchasing office determined that one of the applications was “non-responsive,” which means it was not complete and cannot move forward.
The other applicant is Roadway Productions/Road Star Productions. Because of city and state purchasing laws, details of Roadway’s proposal will be kept private until the City Council votes next month — likely at its Nov. 5 meeting — on whether to hire that group, city spokeswoman Nicole Sherbert said.
City staff will continue to review Roadway’s application over the next few weeks and make a recommendation to the council, Sherbert said. It’s not clear what would happen with the Trail of Lights if the council doesn’t choose Roadway.
Roadway or the city could charge an admission fee this year of $5 each for visitors 11 years or older. The City Council approved the fee as part of the budget process this summer.
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October 12, 2009
Parks officials say Zilker sod plans on hold until rains stop
Plan A was to hose down the Great Lawn to remove a thick layer of mud in hopes of reviving the sod underneath.
Plan B is to let it air out.
After heavy rains Friday and a day-long soaking yesterday, pools have formed in parts of the 46-acre lawn, which remains largely mud-covered more than a week after the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Assistant Parks Director Stuart Strong said the hosing method — tried last week — was too time- and labor-intensive for such a large swath of land. Now that more rain has fallen, the city is going to try drying out the lawn instead.
“You can still see the roots and grass beneath it but until it dries out we won’t know the impact the rain has had,” he said. “We’re in ‘watch the grass grow’ mode.”
Strong said the company that grew the sod — which was installed in April — has advised the city to dry it out “and the grass will break through,” he said.
Once it’s dry, crews will use machines to aerate the soil and help speed up the growing process, Strong said.
Officials are still optimistic that healthy grass is alive and well beneath the muck.
ACL organizer, C3 Presents, will pay $2.5 million to reimburse the city for the new sod and irrigation systems at Zilker, and is also paying for the sod clean-up.
The park will be closed at least through the end of this month, Strong said.
Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
A worker uses a hose to wash mud off the sod at Zilker Park last week.
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September 23, 2009
Dog park proposal at Emma Long shot down
City staffers suggested at the parks board meeting Tuesday night that part of Emma Long Metropolitan Park be turned into a temporary off-leash dog area, but parks board members didn’t like the idea.
The Parks Department wanted to find another spot where dogs could run free because it’s planning to close the popular off-leash area at Bull Creek District Park for six months starting in November.
The department is closing Bull Creek park to replant and restore vegetation there, and because water sampling has shown high levels of E. coli, which city staffers say is the result of dog waste in the creek.
The Parks Department said they wanted to open a temporary off-leash area near water, as dog owners had requested. Emma Long park fronts Lake Austin, west of North Capital of Texas Highway. But parks board members said they were concerned about: dog waste contaminating that body of water; over-crowding Emma Long, already a heavily used park; and the fairness of allowing dogs and dog owners in for free, as city staff had recommended, but continuing to require other park users to pay an entrance fee.
The board recommended asking a city task force to search for other sites suitable for off-leash parks. And it approved staffers’ other ideas, which included keeping Bull Creek an on-leash park for six months after the plant restoration work to measure bacterial levels in the creek.
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September 4, 2009
Shallow end of Deep Eddy to close for now
The City of Austin is closing the shallow portion of Deep Eddy Pool for now because of low water levels in the two wells that feed the pool.
The shallow area is separated by a concrete barrier from the deeper area, which is popular with lap swimmers.
City officials plan to test the geology and soils around the pool to figure out if they should modify or deepen the existing wells, build a new well, or pursue another idea.
The city closed Deep Eddy Aug. 28 after lightening knocked out water pumps there. The pumps have been fixed, but a closer look at the wells showed the water levels are too low to keep filling both sides of the pool, said the city’s aquatics director, Tom Nelson.
If the drought continues, the city might have to close the pool’s deep end, too, he said.
The drought is also taking a toll on Barton Springs Pool, where spring flows are at historically low levels. There are no plans to close that pool for now.
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August 31, 2009
Dogs to be allowed at Bull Creek for now
The Parks Department had planned to require that dogs be leashed at Bull Creek District Park starting Sept. 8. But department spokesman Victor Ovalle said this morning that Parks Director Sara Hensley now will recommend that dogs be allowed to roam free at the park until Nov. 1, when the city will temporarily close the park to repair a low-water crossing and plant new vegetation.
The park is one of 12 off-leash dog parks in Austin. City officials have said water testing has shown that dog waste is causing high bacteria levels in the creek.
Hensley and a subcommittee of parks board and environmental board members will make a final decision tonight about whether to allow dogs to roam free through Sept. 8 or Nov. 1. First, they’ll conduct a public hearing starting at 6:15 p.m. at the Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River Street.
Hensley will decide this spring, after the re-vegetation work is done, whether to re-open the park as an off-leash or off-leash park, Ovalle said.
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August 18, 2009
Zilker lawn to reopen Friday
Austin Parks and Recreation Department have announced that the Zilker Park “Great Lawn” will reopen Friday after an 11 a.m. ceremony.
The lawn has been closed for renovations for almost a year. Money for the improvements was donated by C3 Presents, producers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
The City Council in July approved an agreement that commits C3 to reimburse the city at least $2.5 million for improvements that included grading the soil and installing sod on the 42-acre site and an irrigation system that draws water from Lady Bird Lake.
Officials said at the time that the lawn would remain closed to allow the grass to grow a healthy root system before the public could again use the area.
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August 3, 2009
Proposal: Pull off-leash privileges at Bull Creek, close park for 6-8 months
Under a proposal from the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, vegetation and water quality at Bull Creek District Park, at 6701 Lakewood Drive in Northwest Austin, would be restored under a project that would start in September.
The bad news is that the 48-acre park, a popular swimming hole and hang out for dogs who like to roam leash-free, would close for six to eight months.
And the leash-free romping would come to an end.
Regular water quality sampling of Bull Creek since 2007 has revealed high levels of bacteria, a potential health problem for both people and dogs, according to a statement released this evening, and dog waste is the most likely cause.
Dogs would be required to be on leash on visits to the park starting Sept. 8. The city would close the park to restore vegetation along the creek banks. City officials said such vegetation helps prevent pollution from reaching the water.
Bull Creek District Park is one of 12 off-leash parks maintained by the city. When not in these specified areas, the Austin leash ordinance requires dogs to be on a leash no longer than 6 feet on public property. Maximum fine for violating the leash ordinance: $500.
City officials said they will brief the Environmental and Parks boards on Aug. 19 and 25. Public hearings on the proposal would be held in late August.
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July 28, 2009
Another tree falls in Zilker Park
A 35-foot tall cedar elm tree broke in half Tuesday morning and came crashing down in Zilker Park.
The tree was about 250 feet north of the park’s hillside theater and was not in an area used extensively by the public, said Walter Passmore, the city’s urban forester. The tree was not among the trees that the Parks Department assessed recently and considered for removal; those trees were closer to Barton Springs Pool, Passmore said.
The drought was likely a contributing factor in the tree’s demise, Passmore said. But the elm’s biggest problem was that it had extensive rot in the upper trunk, he said. The elm’s roots and canopy also were crowded out by a much larger live oak that is right next to it, Passmore said.
In the past few months, Parks staffers and a city commission have agreed that five trees near the pool need to be cut down because they are in poor health.
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June 29, 2009
Two more trees to come down at Barton Springs
A committee of environmental and parks board members decided tonight that two more trees will be cut down at Barton Springs Pool.
One is a hackberry at the far west end of the parking lot; the other is an elm east of the pool’s entrance and near Eliza Spring.
The committee decided earlier this month that three other trees at the pool, two pecans and an elm, were in poor health and needed to be felled. Since then, arborists and the city have further studied the roots of a few other trees at the pool. Parks Director Sara Hensley said the hackberry and elm have extensive decay and pose a safety risk. The committee agreed they should come down.
Hensley and her staff also presented a plan and cost estimates to try to improve the conditions of trees at Barton Springs Pool and in Zilker Park. To provide better tree care (inspecting, pruning, mulching, etc.) for about 200 trees in the park would cost $425,000 initially and $240,000 for every subsequent cycle of maintenance, parks staffers said. The Parks Department has $193,000 left for tree maintenance and planting at Barton Springs, and groups and residents have offered to donate money.
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Three trees cut down at Zilker Park
Three grand trees near Barton Springs Pool were cut down today, but they will be reincarnated as sculptures, mulch and possibly guitars and souvenirs.
Tree-cutting crews left large stumps that wood sculptor R.L. Blair, who moved to Austin a few months ago, offered to turn into carvings or benches. He will start later this week.
“At this point, I don’t have a clue what I’ll make. Until I stand in front of the stump and really look at the material, I can’t tell,” said Blair, 64, who has carved wood for four decades, including creating several sculptures for Disney theme parks. “They won’t be very big pieces or complex designs. And I will stick to something related to Austin or Barton Springs.”
Parks Director Sara Hensley and a commiteee of parks board and environmental board members decided earlier this month that the trees — two pecans and an elm in and near the Zilker playscape — were in poor health and needed to come down because they posed a safety risk. The playscape will re-open Tuesday.
The Parks Department is considering turning other parts of the trees into small souvenirs to raise money for its urban forestry and tree-planting program, spokesman Victor Ovalle said. Officials are also in talks with guitar companies to create guitars out of some of the wood, he said. But the bulk of the wood will be turned into mulch to improve the soil conditions of other trees at the pool, he said.
Hensley said earlier this year that the Parks Department would cut down 29 trees at the iconic pool because a study by a private firm concluded the trees are in poor health. After hearing from other arborists and the public, Hensley changed her mind and said the city could prune or improve the soil conditions of most of the trees.
A city committee is scheduled to meet tonight to discuss plans to improve upkeep of trees at the pool.
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June 25, 2009
Three Zilker playground trees to be cut down Monday
Three trees in and near the playscape area adjacent to Barton Springs Pool will be cut down Monday at 7 a.m.
A committee of parks board members and environmental board members agreed this month that the trees — two pecans and an elm — are in bad health, pose a safety risk and need to come down.
Parks officials said wood sculptor R.L. Blair, who has created carvings for Disney parks in Paris, Tokyo and other cities, has offered to create sculptures out of the felled trees that will be exhibited in the Barton Springs Pool area. The city also plans to sell pieces of the trees as souvenirs; that money will go to the city’s urban forestry and tree planting program. And the Parks Department is in talks with a guitar company to create guitars out of some of the wood, parks officials said.
Parks Director Sara Hensley said earlier this year that the Parks Department would cut down 29 trees at Barton Springs Pool because a study showed they were in poor health. After hearing from arborists and the public, Hensley revised that recommendation and said the city could prune or improve the soil conditions of most of the trees. The parks and environmental board committee agreed.
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June 15, 2009
Fate of Barton Springs trees could be decided tonight
Parks Director Sara Hensley will offer her recommendation tonight on how many trees need to be cut down at Barton Springs Pool.
The Parks Department said a few months ago that 29 trees at the pool need to be felled because they are in bad shape and pose a risk of toppling or dropping limbs. Residents and arborists have weighed in with other ideas over the course of several public meetings, and Hensley said recently that probably only a handful of trees need to come down and that the rest need further study or care.
Hensley and a subcommittee made up of members of the parks board and environmental board will talk about the issue tonight. The meeting will be held at 6:15 p.m. at the Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River Street.
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May 27, 2009
Rowing center to be expanded
The owner of the Texas Rowing Center, on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake, plans to replace the boathouse with a new, larger building.
Owner Matt Knifton showed the parks board a rendering of the new facility, which would nearly double the size of the current, 900-square-foot boathouse, he said.
Boats would be stored on the lower level, and the second floor would have restrooms open to the public and a meeting space that community groups could use, he said. That floor would have wood panels that could be raised during the day to make the building into more of a pavilion-type space, he said. There will also be water fountains and outdoor showers nearby that runners and walkers on the hike-and-bike trail could use, he said.
Knifton said he plans to pay for the project up front, and use money from boat rentals to pay it off. Knifton contracts with the city to run a business on the lake, and the city also gets a cut of the concession profits.
The original boathouse was built in 1985 as a temporary facility, and a structural engineer said in 2003 that it is no longer compliant with city codes, Knifton said.
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Ideas aired to scale back Trail of Lights
Parks and Recreation staffers suggested ideas for scaling back the Trail of Lights at last night’s parks board meeting.
Parks and Rec is looking to change the annual Zilker Park holiday event to cut its budget, as nearly every city department has been asked to do. The event, which has been free to the public, costs the city nearly $1 million a year to do, and the city gets only about $275,000 back in parking fees, concessions and sponsorships.
Laura Esparza, the division manager of cultural affairs for Parks, suggested keeping some features of the event, such as concessions, the Zilker Tree, the Yule Log and Santa’s House, but having a modest drive-through lighting display along part of Barton Springs Road instead of a more extensive walking trail. The price tag: $120,000.
Another idea would be to outsource parts of the event, like volunteer recruitment and crews to set up and repair the lighting displays. That would reduce the city’s cost to about $385,000, Esparza said.
The third suggestion was to not have the trail this year, keep the Zilker Tree and create a new model for the event for next year. Parks board members didn’t seem to warm to that idea, and asked that a fourth option be considered: charging visitors to the trail a nominal fee.
Esparza researched other holiday lighting displays in big cities and said Austin’s Trail of Lights is the largest and most costly one she found. Los Angeles hosts a $750,000, six-week holiday lights event, but they charge visitors a fee to help pay for it, she said.
Parks Department Director Sara Hensley said the fate of the trail will be decided during the process of crafting the city budget, which happens over the summer and includes public hearings. She said that since last week, when the idea of scaling back the Trail of Lights made the news, no new sponsors have come forward to offer money for the trail.
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May 22, 2009
Trail of Lights on chopping block?
The Trail of Lights could be canceled or changed this year as the Parks and Recreation Department looks to cut $1.4 million from its budget.
The annual holiday event costs the City of Austin about $945,000 to put on. That cost is spread across several departments, but the Parks Department pays the most, about $600,000. Corporate sponsorships, concessions and parking fees for the trail bring in about $250,000.
Parks Director Sara Hensley said the city might have to charge an entrance fee or get more sponsors to continue holding the event, which draws about 300,000 people for two weeks each December. The event began as the “Yule Fest” in 1965 and was renamed in 1992.
“Because this has been a free event and people really enjoy it, our hope is that the community or businesses will step up” to help, Hensley said. “It’s an event we want to continue to do and I’m hoping there will be an angel or two or three out there who will help us.”
The trail takes parks staffers about two months to set up and a month to dismantle. But because of other budget cuts, the department needs to have those staffers available to focus on their regular work tasks, Hensley said.
City Manager Marc Ott has asked all city departments to submit cost-cutting ideas to him by today. He’ll propose a city budget in late July for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Almost every city department has had to cut costs for this current fiscal year to deal with lower-than-expected sales tax revenues, which make up a quarter of the city’s budget. Parks cut $2.6 million by not filling vacant jobs, cutting back on training and travel and delaying a new park ranger program.
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April 21, 2009
More meetings planned on Barton Springs tree removal
The Parks and Recreation Department will gather more input from the public and city commissions before cutting down trees at Barton Springs Pool.
The department said last week that it plans to cut down 28 trees at the pool because a study done by the Davey Resource Group concluded that the trees are in bad health and could endanger pool-goers.
The removal won’t happen for at least another few months, Parks Director Sara Hensley said.
First, it will present the study to: the Parks and Recreation Board on April 28, 6 p.m. at City Hall, 301 W. Second Street and the Urban Forestry Board on May 20, 6:30 p.m. at the Parks Department’s main office, 200 S. Lamar Blvd. Residents can sign up to speak at any of those meetings. (The Environmental Board has also tentatively scheduled a hearing for May 20, 6 p.m. at City Hall;
The department also plans to hold a public tour of the trees to explain the study’s findings. (The date for that hasn’t been announced.) And parks staffers will present and explain the study to the City Council this Thursday at 2 p.m. at City Hall.
Some residents have asked the Parks Department why they chose Davey to do the study. Gary Gregson, a project coordinator in the department, said the city notified 11 companies that the $56,000 contract was available, then — when no firms responded — extended the deadline and notified 20 more firms. Davey was the only company that applied, he said.
Urban forestry employees at the city, not Davey, will cut down the trees, he said.
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