Austin residents concerned Zilker Park vision plan draft is more conducive for music festivals

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin residents are concerned the draft for the Zilker Park vision plan is more favorable for music festivals, instead of everyday use. Those involved in the planning process assure that’s not the case.

This vision plan has been in the works since February 2021 drawing in thousands of public comments.

"We are loving Zilker to death by leaving it alone," Barton Springs Conservancy Board Chair Michael Cannatti said.

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department has put together a plan to modify Zilker Park. The goals are to improve accessibility, current facilities, and programs, and preserve the historical, cultural, and ecological characteristics.

"Park land is precious and Austinites have too little of it," an Austin resident said during Monday’s Parks and Recreation Board Meeting.

With that in mind, Parks and Rec have proposed parking garages to consolidate parking, increased bike, pedestrian, and trail connections, a welcome center, and new play areas.

"If we don’t change anything, then people are parking all over the fields, parking on the trees, they’re trampling everything, and it will be destroyed," Cannatti said.

Cannatti is with one of the 16 organizations and businesses that operate in or adjacent to Zilker Park. They’ve been working together to provide feedback to the planners.

"Our goal is to make sure the park continues to be welcoming and accessible to everybody from all over town but at the same time we want to the park to be better maintained and more green and more trees and more ecological healthy, and those two things can happen," Cannatti said.

Some Austin residents are concerned the plans are more conducive for the music festivals.

"I think part of this plan was never about engaging or listening to the public. I think the biggest example of that is construction of a new permanent music venue on the great lawn," one Austin resident said at the board meeting.

"Spending two million dollars to build what amounts to be an entertainment district in Zilker Parks is a travesty," another Austin resident said at the board meeting.

Cannatti said this design is for everyday use, not just concerts.

"There’s a lot of imagination that C3 is manipulating everything, and I just don’t see it, and I’m involved in almost all these meetings, so I’d think I’d know if it was going on," Cannatti said.

The city is set to consider adopting this plan later this spring or early summer.