The Austin City Council is moving to more aggressively oversee how the school district plans to use or sell their jointly-owned parkland.
The council on Thursday approved a resolution directing the city manager to create a “consistent and transparent” process to handle condemnation of city-owned land devoted to parks. That protocol is intended to better protect the city’s legal and financial interests as those properties come under pressure.
It also orders staffers to design a framework for the city to repurchase or assert its ownership rights over condemned land used for anything other than the original public use. The goal is to give the city clearer options if land tied to public use is repurposed or sold.
Council Member Ryan Alter, who sponsored the resolution, said from the dais that the city needs to protect spaces where people can walk and play. He framed the move as a response to growing pressure on publicly accessible land.
“When we think about those public lands, the two things which I am certain of is, one, we’re not making any more of it, and two, it’s going to get more and more expensive,” Alter said.
The action specifically takes aim at property the city jointly owns with Austin ISD. The city and district have long shared ownership of school land across Austin, including playgrounds and open space used by the public.
But now, as Austin ISD tries to tackle declining enrollment and a growing budget deficit, the district is slated to close 10 schools. To ease its financial woes, district leaders have increasingly turned to real estate deals to generate revenue. That includes selling school property that has long-served as public space.
The city and district share two properties expected to close: Barrington and Oak Springs elementary schools. The district is currently taking public comment on how the properties could be used. Those campuses may become early test cases for how both entities navigate competing priorities.
Austin ISD will still be able to sell property it owns with the city under the existing condemnation process. To do that, the district condemns the property and offers the city a settlement to give up all rights to the property. If they can’t come to an agreement, the city must sue. That process can escalate into a legal dispute over land value and control.
The city needs to be talking to the district long before it gets to that stage, Alter said. His resolution formalizes that dialogue and develops a city process for independent appraisals and mitigation for lost public open space.
Alter told Austin Current earlier this week that Austin must preserve as much parkland as possible. If saving that property is not possible, he said, the city must secure enough compensation to replace parks and maintain access to green space elsewhere.
