Hi Everyone,
Wanted to give an update on Friends of Zilker’s participation in the Zilker Park Working Group. This is a group that was commissioned by the CoA and PARD to help alleviate some immediate concerns to Zilker Park and the surrounding neighborhoods.
We met Monday, October 1 for 2 hours at the Zilker Botanical Gardens. This is currently a closed-door meeting for WG members only, so I’d like to make sure I’m reporting back to FoZ as I’m the representative for our group. Other groups represented include PARD, ZNA, Bouldin Creek, District Reps for City Council, etc… Basically anyone that has a stake in Zilker Park.
Specifically, we have been charged with making recommendations to the City on the following topics:
Butler Landfill Cap and Improvements
Determine the viability of proposed improvement plans to fortify the Butler Landfill cap and propose operational guidelines for that site;
Short Term Parking and Traffic Solutions
Evaluate immediate options and opportunities for parking outside of the Zilker Metropolitan Park area and related strategies for reducing traffic in the Park
Polo Field Parking
Develop recommendations to establish a plan to permanently remove parking on the Polo Fields
Potentially Recommendations for the Zilker Master Plan
A fourth sub-group may be formed later to begin crafting recommendations for the Zilker Park Master Plan.
Our first order of business this last week was elected Steering Committee members, of which I am currently the temporary Secretary.
Our next was to outline documents and items that we think will help our decision making process. Based on meeting minutes, we requested the following from City Staff:
- For the purposes of this group, we’d like to hear from each relevant department within Zilker Park, what their problems and pain points are. Along with data to support.
- A list of all of the special events in the park (large and small)
- Aside from transportation, we need knowledge about general operations and demand. This can help us to create data points for what we’re dealing with.
** Barton Springs visitors
** Parking meters
** Polo fields - Potential time frame for Master Plan
- List of District Reps (or a note if they decline)
- Can we have access to the consultant that is managing the landfill cap?
- Request extension to council b/c of almost certain to miss deadline of October 18
- We would like to see the Butler engineering studies (Will be provided by COA and added to Google Drive)
That’s about all for now. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate.
Cheers,
Jimmy