"We're exchanging what we actually have." That is how City attorney Trish Link described the Muny deal to the Environmental Commission on October 21, as reported by the Austin Current. She explained that the City cannot afford to buy Lions Municipal Golf Course outright.
What the City has to offer is rules. In return for UT handing over Muny, the City would rewrite the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement that governs about 190 acres of University land along Lake Austin Boulevard. The new terms would allow those acres to hold taller, denser and more heavily paved development than the agreement allows today. City Council is set to consider the amended agreement on November 19. In Tarrytown, the course gets saved by changing what can be built across the road.
What Stays on the Map for Good
According to West Austin News, the proposal would deed the 141-acre course to the City and keep all 18 holes as public green space. Muny opened in 1924 and has been run by the City since it took over the lease in 1937. In 1950 it became the first public golf course in the South to integrate, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The City's announcement calls it the most used public course in Austin, with more than 75,000 rounds a year.
A second deal, reported in the same West Austin News piece, matters just as much to families on the north side of the neighborhood. UT would transfer the land used by the West Austin Youth Association to WAYA itself. That is a 14.56-acre campus on Exposition Boulevard with five baseball fields, three multi-purpose fields, four sand volleyball courts and two playgrounds, all on land WAYA has leased from the University until now.
Anonymous donors are helping make both transfers possible. The Austin American-Statesman described the gifts as "very large" but reported that the amounts have not been disclosed, and any final agreement still goes to the UT Board of Regents.
The Rules That Would Change Across the Road
The cost of the deal shows up in the City's proposed term sheet, a five-page comparison of the current agreement and the proposed one. The standards in it apply to non-UT projects on 190.26 acres. Buildings UT develops for University purposes are a separate matter, so these figures are not limits on everything that could go up there.
| Standard | Current agreement | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Height | Ranges by tract | 65 ft for buildings contiguous to and north of Lake Austin Blvd; 105 ft south of it when not contiguous, plus the City's height-limit exception |
| Multifamily density | 22 units per acre | No numeric cap |
| Impervious cover | Single-family 30%, cluster/townhouse 60%, other sites 75% to 90% | 75% across all 190.26 acres; up to 85% per site with transfers; single-family 45% |
| Building coverage | 50% | 75% per site |
| Lake setback | 200 ft total | 150 ft primary plus 50 ft secondary, unchanged |
Overall intensity is limited by a floor-area ratio of 0.6:1 across the whole area, but any single site could go as high as 5:1 without a Council rezoning. The term sheet warns that sites developed later could find little or no floor area left. In practice, the first projects would use up floor area that later sites can no longer claim.
The list of allowed uses is broad. South of Lake Austin Boulevard it includes housing, retail, light and custom manufacturing, agriculture, civic uses and University facilities. North of the boulevard it includes housing, commercial uses including service stations, agriculture and civic uses. UT's own description is more modest. West Austin News reports that the University plans residential and retail meant to fit the neighborhood, safe sidewalks and public green space, and that it aims to keep building heights consistent with what stands there today. The amended agreement going to Council on November 19 carries the term sheet's standards, and UT's description of its plans is not part of it.
The Plan Comes After the Vote
Nothing Council takes up on November 19 includes a site plan. The City's materials do not lay out development parcel by parcel. They require UT to replace its existing affordable student housing but say the new housing can be on site or off. West Austin News reports that student families will keep living in the Brackenridge Apartments until development moves forward, and that the apartments are to be rebuilt at one of several possible sites.
Several environmental questions are also left for later. Critical environmental features on the land south of Lake Austin Boulevard will be assessed after approval, and the two parties will then decide whether buffers are needed and how large. Heritage trees get a "compromise" between City rules and UT's own tree policy. Limits on cut and fill and on building over slopes stay as they are in the existing agreement, which sets none.
That deferred assessment is where most of the October 21 public comment focused. The Austin Current reported that speakers raised the Brackenridge Field Laboratory, an 82-acre research area that the proposal does not expressly protect. In the meeting video, Liz Bowman can be heard urging that the lab be explicitly protected, and Edward LeBrun says development "should not be rushed." Commission chair Mariana Krueger questioned the timing as well.
Where the Local Voices Split
Nobody on the record opposes saving the course. They differ on how much detail should come first.
The Muny Conservancy, which leads the Save Muny effort, called the announcement a "historic breakthrough." Co-chair Scotty Sayers said the promise of decades of effort was becoming "a real possibility," and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw told West Austin News, "Muny is so much more than a golf course. It is a piece of Austin's heart and soul." Ken Tiemann, chair of the Save Historic Muny District, told the Austin Current he had "complete confidence that UT is going to do something fabulous with the remainder of the land." District 10 Council Member Marc Duchen told CBS Austin he hoped most of his colleagues would "see the wisdom" of the deal.
Holly Reed, a board member of both the West Austin Neighborhood Group and the Muny Conservancy, spoke for a neighborhood working group at the Environmental Commission. She supported keeping Muny but said residents need more information on traffic and environmental effects, and that WANG was drafting a resolution. The people who most want the course saved are asking the same questions as the people focused on the Field Lab.
The Calendar From October to Spring
The timeline is short, which is part of why it has drawn comment.
- October 14: The City announces it is close to an agreement.
- October 21: Environmental Commission staff briefing. No vote was taken.
- October 27: Planning Commission agenda lists a briefing on the amendments.
- November 19: City Council considers the amended agreement.
- Spring 2027: The regulating plan and a proposed Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone return to boards, commissions and Council.
The regulating plan, the document closest to showing what the land will actually look like, is written after the November vote. The City's Brackenridge Tract page carries the proposal. Council generally takes in-person or phone comment on agenda items. For regular meetings, sign-up opens at 10 a.m. the Monday before and closes at noon the day before, according to the City's guide to participating in Council meetings. The Muny Conservancy has posted a suggested letter of support at themunyconservancy.com/help and is urging residents to contact Council before the vote.
Meanwhile, the Tee Sheet Runs as Usual
Nothing in the announcement changes how the course runs this fall. On the GolfATX page for Lions, weekday tee times open online at 9 a.m. seven days ahead. Weekend times open online the Monday before at 8 p.m., and the pro shop starts taking phone bookings that Tuesday. Weekend times for the Saturday after the vote, November 21, open online Monday evening, November 16.
If you own property near the Brackenridge land and want to understand how the proposed height, density and coverage rules might affect your street, Ivy Residential Group can go through the term sheet with you before it reaches Council. Start a Confidential Consultation.
