Muny Goes to City Council, and the Rest of Lake Austin Boulevard Goes With It
Item 50 on the draft agenda for Austin City Council's Thursday, November 19 meeting doesn't open with a golf course. It opens with a map. It would authorize amendments to the City's interlocal agreement with the University of Texas covering "the area generally bounded by Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) to the south and west, Enfield Road and 8th Street to the north, and Veterans Drive and Hearn Street to the east." Only after that does it mention "the conveyance of Lion's Municipal Golf Course (Muny)," followed by the vacation of City rights-of-way, a regulating plan and a tax increment reinvestment zone.
That order says a lot about the deal. For Tarrytown, the proposed amendment to the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement is the long-awaited agreement to save Muny. It is also the first new set of rules in more than three decades for the land that holds the neighborhood's grocery store, its lakefront restaurants and both sides of Lake Austin Boulevard. You can read the draft Council agenda yourself. The agenda calls itself a draft subject to change.
Muny covers about 141 acres. The Brackenridge tract around it adds roughly 190 more, on both sides of Lake Austin Boulevard. In his Watson Wire newsletter, Mayor Kirk Watson listed what sits on that land:
The original 1989 agreement set the terms for how UT could develop that land. Watson wrote that updating it should "better assure that development of the land provides housing, retail amenities for the neighborhood, height limits, setbacks from the lake, open space, and density provisions." He also wrote that "UT doesn't have actual plans right now for the property's development." So the rules are being written before there is any project to apply them to, and they will shape whatever UT eventually proposes.
The golf course has never been the City's. Muny opened in 1924 on University land, the City took over the lease in 1937, and the course has been City-run ever since. 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 as a civil rights landmark. The City's October 14 announcement calls it the most-used public course in Austin, with more than 75,000 rounds a year. KXAN reported that since 2019 the City has been running it on a month-to-month lease with UT.
The problem has always been the land's value. Community Impact reported that the 155-acre Muny and WAYA property was appraised at more than $680 million. That 155 acres is the 141-acre course plus the 14.56-acre West Austin Youth Association campus on Exposition Boulevard. West Austin News reported that under the proposal, the WAYA campus would go to the association.
What closes the gap is a gift. Watson describes the donors as "long-time Austinites" who want to stay anonymous and are giving UT "a very large amount of money" to support its students and campus. The amount has not been made public. In the newsletter, the Muny and WAYA conveyances come together with updating the agreement for the other 190 acres, followed by a regulating plan, "which is essentially zoning for the area," and a TIRZ "to pay for infrastructure." UT's own statement adds that it will "ultimately take" the arrangement to its Board of Regents.
So a Council vote to advance the golf course deal is also a vote on the framework for development next to it.
The City's Brackenridge tract page sums up the proposed rules in three lines: building heights capped at 65 feet "when viewed from Lake Austin Boulevard," impervious cover limited to 75 percent sitewide, and a 200-foot setback from Lady Bird Lake.
The staff terms presented at the Planning Commission's October 27 briefing give more detail. They say that "in no instance can a building be taller than 65 feet when measured from LAB," meaning Lake Austin Boulevard. Buildings on or north of the boulevard top out at 65 feet. Buildings south of the boulevard that don't front it can reach 105 feet. Both limits are subject to the City code's height-limit exception.
Density follows the same pattern. Across all 190.26 acres, the floor-area ratio is 0.6 to 1. The briefing notes that setbacks from the river, a tributary and Lake Austin Boulevard shrink the buildable area, so an individual site can go above that ratio, up to 5 to 1 unless Council approves more through rezoning. Impervious cover is 75 percent across the tract but up to 85 percent on a single site, and it can be moved from one site to another. Compatibility requirements apply north of the boulevard, on the side facing Tarrytown.
In practice, the low overall averages leave room for some dense individual sites. Taller buildings are allowed on the lake side of the boulevard, and the side nearest existing homes carries the extra compatibility protection.
On November 4, the Environmental Commission voted unanimously, per the meeting video and transcript, to send Council a recommendation that would tighten nearly every one of those limits. As amended at the meeting, the recommendation compares with the staff terms like this:
| Issue | Staff terms, Oct. 27 briefing | Environmental Commission, Nov. 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Building height | 65 ft on or north of the boulevard; up to 105 ft south of it | 75-ft limit |
| Lake setback | 200 ft total | 350 ft, with no impervious cover inside it |
| Lakefront access | Not listed in the briefing terms | Public trail easement |
| Brackenridge Field Laboratory | Not listed in the briefing terms | 300-ft undeveloped buffer; all 82 contiguous acres kept in perpetuity |
| Design | Not listed in the briefing terms | Bird-friendly design and dark-sky lighting |
| Timing | Council vote Nov. 19 | Delay Council vote to June 2027 |
The motion to delay spells out its reasons. It asks Council to wait until June 2027 "to allow for the 60th annual celebration of the BFL in April," to hold significant public engagement in the neighborhood, on the UT campus and with the affected scientific community, and to complete a comprehensive environmental study, supervised by the City's Watershed department, whose results "shall be made public."
The recommendation is advisory. The November 6 draft agenda still lists the item for November 19.
The item before Council authorizes the City to negotiate and execute the framework. The detailed rules come later. The City lays out the sequence on its Brackenridge page:
The agreement also covers changes at the other end of town. Per the Planning Commission briefing, an amended lease for UT's property at Mueller would adjust timelines and add residential and childcare uses. The proposal also covers replacement of affordable student housing and a local government corporation. According to West Austin News, the student-family apartments would stay until development moves forward, then be relocated or rebuilt at one of several possible sites.
Some of the people closest to the course aren't ready to call it finished. KUT reported that Holly Reed, who sits on the boards of both the West Austin Neighborhood Group and the Muny Conservancy, wanted more information before weighing in. "I want a thoughtful plan," she said. The Conservancy itself is pushing for approval. In its October 14 release, co-chair Ben Crenshaw called the course "a piece of Austin's heart and soul," and the group pointed supporters to a letter of support.
The Conservancy has also said what it would do once the course is preserved: restore and improve the 141 acres with the golf architecture firm Coore & Crenshaw, and build a teaching center honoring the course's 1950 integration and the people who made it happen.
For Tarrytown, the item now on Council's agenda would authorize the City to negotiate and sign amendments that move the Muny conveyance forward. UT has said it will take the arrangement to its Board of Regents. The same amendments would set the first new framework since 1989 for the land along Lake Austin Boulevard, including the grocery store, Oyster Landing and the lakefront. Zoning-level details such as heights, density and setbacks would come through the regulating plan in Spring 2027.
If you own property near Lake Austin Boulevard and want to know how these proposals could affect your plans, Grimes Group Austin follows each step closely and is glad to talk it through privately. Request a Confidential Home Valuation and we'll put the Brackenridge timeline next to your own.
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