Posting Language
Title
Authorize negotiation and execution of all documents and instruments necessary or desirable to acquire, on behalf of Austin Water's Wildlands Conservation as part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (BCP), in fee simple approximately 3.9924 acres and 2.8968 acres (6.8892 acres total) of land generally located south of Ranch Road 2222, west of Oakwood Cove at Beverly Hills Drive in Austin, Travis County, Texas 78731, from Russell G. Coffee A/K/A Russell Graham Coffee and Christine Coffee Baker, as Co-Independent Executors of the Estate of Robert Franklin Coffee, deceased, in Travis County, Texas, Probate Case No. C-1-PB-21-001404 for a total amount not to exceed $3,676,000, including closing costs. Funding: $3,676,000 is available in the Capital Budget of Austin Financial Services.
De
Lead Department
Austin Financial Services.
Fiscal Note
Funding is available in the Capital Budget of Austin Financial Services.
Prior Council Action:
August 14, 2024: Council approved Resolution No. 20240814-024, directing the City Manager to create a dedicated land acquisition fund that the City can use to acquire land for parkland, protect the City’s water supply, improve drainage, and mitigate flood risks.
For More Information:
Brandon Williamson, Austin Financial Services, 512-974-5666; Michael Gates, Austin Financial Services, 512-974-5639; Justin Bates, Austin Water, 512-972-1663.
Additional Backup Information:
This acquisition is funded with certificates of obligation established by City Council Resolution 20240814-024, directing the City Manager to acquire land to protect the City's water supply, improve drainage, and mitigate flood risks. The resolution also directed prioritizing land with additional environmental benefits, such as reducing the City's carbon footprint, increasing the City's resilience to the effects of climate change, and protecting sensitive ecosystems vulnerable to development.
The proposed acquisition represents an important addition of approximately 6.8892 acres in total to the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (BCP), part of Austin Water's Wildlands. The subject property is both adjacent to and surrounded by the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve's 215-acre Bright Leaf Preserve tract and represents a significant inholding. Acquisition of the properties will limit expansion of the wildland-urban interface, protect important floodplain and upland habitat, and simplify management of the City's conservation lands in the area.
The Austin Community Foundation donated Bright Leaf Preserve to the City of Austin in 2021, pursuant to the terms of the will of Georgia B. Lucas. Her request specified that Bright Leaf Preserve be managed as a park and nature preserve, open to the public only through guided access. Austin Water's Wildland Conservation Division manages the property as part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (BCP). The BCP protects two migratory songbird species, six cave-dwelling invertebrate species, and 27 additional species of concern. By providing a habitat for these most vulnerable populations, the preserve safeguards our entire ecosystem. The BCP makes it possible to build roads, utilities, and buildings while honoring our commitment to Austin's natural resources. The Preserve operates as a multi-agency conservation effort under a regional 10(a) permit issued by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act, issued jointly in 1996 to the BCP's two managing partners, the City of Austin and Travis County.
An independent third-party appraisal was procured to establish the fair-market valuation of the proposed acquisitions. The appraisal supports the purchase price of $3,659,000. The amount of the purchase price plus closing costs is not to exceed $3,676,000.