The Muny Vote Also Writes the Rules for Lake Austin Boulevard's Other 190 Acres

Since the spring of 2020, Lions Municipal Golf Course has stayed public on a lease between the City of Austin and the University of Texas that renews month to month. A City briefing to the Environmental Commission on October 21 lays it out. The 1987 Lions lease has been amended and extended five times, and the last extension, in May 2020, put it on a month-to-month basis.

On November 19, Austin City Council is scheduled to consider a proposal that would end that arrangement. The coverage so far has treated it as a golf story. For anyone living along Enfield Road, Lake Austin Boulevard or the streets between them, it also covers the rules for the University land around the course. Both pieces are in the same document and come up in the same vote.

A Century-Old Course on a Short Lease

Muny opened in 1924. 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, according to The Muny Conservancy's October 14 release. The course handles roughly 75,000 rounds a year. The City says it has operated the course since the 1930s through what is now the GolfATX program.

The land under it belongs to UT. The City briefing explains that the golf course tract, about 141.4 acres, and the West Austin Youth Association tract, about 14.6 acres, sit outside the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement, the interlocal agreement that governs how UT land can be developed for non-University purposes. The original lease was supposed to end in 1990 unless the Texas Legislature first adopted an acceptable land use plan for the Brackenridge Tract. That is why the course has been in play for decades, and why the Conservancy's release refers to "more than 50 years of uncertainty."

What the Proposal Does for the Course

The City of Austin's October 14 announcement describes a proposed amendment to the Brackenridge Development Agreement. Under it, ownership of the roughly 141-acre course would pass from UT to the City and the course would stay public green space and a golf course. The Houston Chronicle reported that the conveyance would include a reversion provision. If the City ever used the property for anything other than a golf course, ownership would go back to UT.

Private money is part of the deal, but no amount has been made public. Mayor Kirk Watson's Watson Wire newsletter describes the donors as longtime Austinites making a large gift to UT for its students and campus, and says the same path includes moving the WAYA campus to WAYA. The Austin American-Statesman describes the gift as what makes it possible for the City to acquire the course, and also reports that the amounts were not disclosed. The two accounts frame the money differently, and neither one gives a number.

The Muny Conservancy has said what it would do if the course is secured. Its plans include restoring the 141 acres with the golf architecture firm Coore & Crenshaw and building a teaching center that honors the course's integration history.

The Bigger Map Next Door

According to the City briefing, the Brackenridge Development Agreement "has dated or missing standards relative to current code." Without the agreement, the University's land would have no development standards at all. The amendment that would convey Muny also rewrites the standards for the remaining 190 or so acres of the tract, which run along Lake Austin Boulevard toward Lady Bird Lake. Here is how the briefing compares the current agreement with the proposed one:

The height limit depends on which side of the boulevard a building sits. The City's technical slides set 65 feet for buildings along and north of Lake Austin Boulevard, where compatibility requirements also apply, and allow up to 105 feet for buildings set back south of the boulevard. The briefing also leaves cut and fill and construction on slopes unregulated, under both the current agreement and the amendment.

There are no buildings to picture yet. Watson Wire says UT has no actual development plans for the land and lists housing, neighborhood retail, height limits, setbacks, open space and affordable housing as goals. The vote would set the rules first, before any plan exists.

What the Vote Would Not Settle

Infrastructure is the open question. The briefing describes the remaining tract as mostly undeveloped, lacking sidewalks, water and wastewater lines and drainage, and with inadequate street layouts. It proposes a tax increment reinvestment zone to pay for public infrastructure. Under the current agreement, the City is already responsible for planning, funding and building utility capacity for development there. The City and UT plan to work out infrastructure needs, cost estimates and reimbursement timing "over the coming months." Council would vote on November 19 without those numbers, which are scheduled to come later.

The package has other pieces. It vacates certain City rights-of-way for the University, replaces existing affordable student housing on Brackenridge property either on or off site, and modifies UT's lease at Mueller. Austin Current reported that the Mueller change involves about 11 acres and would allow future housing there for UT students and faculty.

Support is not universal. Community Impact reported that the Save Historic Muny District and The Muny Conservancy came out in favor of the proposal. At the October 21 Environmental Commission discussion, according to Austin Current, UT researchers, environmental advocates and residents worried that the deal was being rushed and raised questions about habitat, traffic, affordability, environmental protections and City finances.

The Calendar From Here

The City briefing lays out the sequence:

1. October 21, 2026: Environmental Commission briefing
2. October 27, 2026: Planning Commission briefing
3. November 2026: UT Board of Regents considers the amended terms separately
4. November 19, 2026: Austin City Council considers the amended agreement
5. Spring 2027: right-of-way vacations finalized, Mueller ground lease amended, regulating plan drafted and briefed, TIRZ project and financing plan developed, Council action on the regulating plan and TIRZ, and conveyance of Lions to the City

Council's vote does not transfer the course. Under this schedule, the deed moves at the end of the spring 2027 steps, after the regulating plan and TIRZ have had their own Council votes. The Conservancy's release says the same thing: "we are not across the finish line quite yet," in the words of co-chair Scotty Sayers. Anyone who wants to contact Council before November 19 can find the Conservancy's instructions on its help page, and Council members' contact information is published by the City.

Muny in the Meantime

The course is open and runs as usual during the review. GolfATX's posted fee table, labeled effective October 1, 2025, lists regular 18-hole green fees of $35 Monday through Thursday, $41 on Friday and $44 on weekends and holidays. Evening rates are $29, $31 and $34, sunset is $28, juniors pay $20, and a nine-hole round is $28. Cart rental costs $18 per golfer, or $12 at sunset. Austin residents can buy a $5 annual resident card that brings discounts on green fees and merchandise. Check with the pro shop before you book, since the table is a year old.

You don't need a tee time to use the clubhouse. The City's course page lists Cisco's Muny Cafe at 512-542-9459. The clubhouse also hosts the West Austin Neighborhood Group's annual meeting, social and board election on Saturday, November 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the clubhouse and patio at 2901 Enfield Road. The group is offering a free H-E-B True Texas BBQ lunch with a new or renewed membership, $30 per family, and asks attendees to RSVP. That puts a neighborhood lunch at the course twelve days before Council takes up its future.

Muny's rules and the rules for the land around it will shape Tarrytown for decades. If you'd like to talk through how the Brackenridge decision could affect your street or your plans, Powers Property Group is glad to sit down with you. Request a Personalized Consultation.