Muny Is Close to Becoming Austin's. The Rules for the Land Beside It Are Still Being Written.

Volma Overton Jr. was 5 when he ran around Lions Municipal Golf Course watching wildlife while his father played 18 holes with friends. Around age 8, he started walking into the "caddie shack" for food. According to Austin Current, he has since spent decades working to keep the course from being developed. When the Mayor announced in October that the City had a path to owning Muny, Overton told the outlet he would not be "all sweetly excited about it until it's done."

He has reason to wait. The proposal that would save the course at 2901 Enfield Road is also an agreement about the 190 acres of university land beside it, the stretch of Lake Austin Boulevard that Tarrytown drives every day. Those acres already hold the H-E-B, Mozart's, and Hula Hut. Council's vote to save the golf course will also be a vote on the rules for what gets built there.

Why Muny Needed a Deal at All

Muny has never belonged to the City. UT owns the land. The Lions Club leased it in 1924, and the City took over operations in 1937. In 1950, two young Black golfers walked onto the course in daylight. According to Austin Current, Mayor Taylor Glass answered staff's call with "Let them play." Muny became the first course in the South to integrate, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a civil rights landmark. It is also the most-played public course in Austin, with more than 75,000 rounds a year, according to the City's October 14 announcement.

Even so, the course has had little security. The 1987 lease has been amended and extended five times. The most recent extension, in May 2020, put it on a month-to-month basis. According to Community Impact, the City pays UT just under $500,000 a year to rent the course. The 155-acre property that holds Muny and the West Austin Youth Association campus is appraised at more than $680 million. The City could not bridge that gap by renewing the lease.

The 2009 plan made the risk concrete. That year, UT System brought in a consultant to plan dense redevelopment of the entire Brackenridge Tract, golf course included. Community Impact reports that the proposal covered the whole tract. Mayor Kirk Watson, writing about the announcement, compared it to Manhattan.

The Deal Runs Through the 190 Acres Next Door

Under the October proposal, gifts from anonymous donors would let UT convey the 141-acre course to the City as an 18-hole public course. WAYA's campus would go to the nonprofit itself. The donors and the size of their gift have not been made public. Watson told Community Impact the City would keep the green space "really at no cost to the taxpayer."

The transfer happens through amendments to the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement. That agreement sets the rules for UT's non-university development on its land along Lake Austin Boulevard. The course and the WAYA tract fall outside it today. The amendments cover the land around them. City staff described the existing agreement to the Environmental Commission as having "dated or missing standards relative to current code," and added that "without the BDA there are no development standards."

The October 21 staff presentation and its companion terms sheet show how the rules would change:

Some items remain outside the rules. The same slide notes that cut and fill and construction on slopes are not regulated today and would stay unregulated under the amendment. The amendments would also create a tax increment reinvestment zone to pay for sidewalks, water and wastewater lines, drainage, and streets. Staff called the area predominantly undeveloped and lacking that infrastructure.

What 65 Feet and 105 Feet Mean on Lake Austin Boulevard

The height rule is the part of the amendment Tarrytown would see. Buildings along Lake Austin Boulevard, or north of it, would top out at 65 feet. Sites south of the boulevard, toward the river and not fronting it, could reach 105 feet. Compatibility requirements would apply north of the boulevard, and staff summarized the rule as no building taller than 65 feet measured from Lake Austin Boulevard. In practice, the boulevard sets the height limit, and taller buildings could only go on lower ground toward the water.

UT has not said what it will build. Community Impact reports that the university has not determined any development plans. The existing Brackenridge Apartments would stay for the near future and could be relocated and rebuilt elsewhere once redevelopment starts. The tract already holds the Lake Austin H-E-B, Mozart's Coffee Roasters, Hula Hut, the Lower Colorado River Authority headquarters, apartment complexes, and WAYA's facilities. No site-by-site plan has been tied to any of them.

The agreement reaches across town too. One amendment would update UT's ground lease near the Dell Pediatric Research Institute at 1400 Barbara Jordan Blvd. in Mueller to allow future student and faculty housing there. Another would turn some City rights-of-way on UT campuses over to the university.

Who Has Signed On, and Who Wants to See the Plan First

Muny's longtime advocates have backed the proposal publicly. Ken Tiemann, chair of the Save Historic Muny District, wrote that the district "fully and enthusiastically supports this proposed agreement" and urged both Council and the UT Regents to approve it, according to Community Impact. KVUE reported that Muny Conservancy co-chair Ben Crenshaw welcomed a path to keeping all 18 holes and asked supporters to keep pushing until approval.

Holly Reed sits on the board of The Muny Conservancy and is a member of the West Austin Neighborhood Group. She told Austin Current that people need more information about the development agreement before they can weigh in:

"There are a lot of people that are like, 'Save Muny at all costs. We don't care if you put Manhattan on the river tract.' I'm not that. I want a thoughtful plan."

The schedule shows why both views fit. The approvals this month cover the agreement's terms. The detailed plan comes later.

• October 21 and 27, 2026: Staff briefed the Environmental Commission and the Planning Commission.
• November 19, 2026: Austin City Council takes up the amended agreement.
• November 2026: The UT Board of Regents considers the same terms separately.
• Spring 2027: Right-of-way vacations are finalized, the Mueller lease is amended, a regulating plan and a TIRZ financing plan go through commissions and Council, and the City takes ownership of Muny.

The City posts updates on its Brackenridge Tract page. Under this timeline, the City would not own the course until after Council acts on the regulating plan in spring 2027. That plan is the document that shows how the land beside the course gets built.

Playing Muny While the Paperwork Moves

Nothing about the course itself changes while the agreement works its way through. According to the City's GolfATX page, weekday tee times open online at 9 a.m. seven days ahead. Saturday and Sunday times open online only at 8 p.m. the Monday before, and you need a user account to book. Weekday reservations can also be made in person when the pro shop opens, or by phone at (512) 978-6869 starting 30 minutes before the first tee time.

A few details are useful for a November round:

1. The course closes for maintenance every third Monday of the month, excluding holidays and major tournaments. This month that falls on Monday, November 16, three days before Council meets.
2. The driving range is irons only, and it closes at 1 p.m. on Mondays until further notice. Range balls cost $7 for a small bucket and $10 for a large one.
3. Carts are $18 per golfer. Non-golfers riding along ride free if they are 12 or under and pay $10 if they are 13 or older, and pets are charged the same $10. Payment is card only.
4. Evening and sunset round times shift through the year, and the City posts a daylight saving chart for them. Cisco's Muny Cafe is on site at (512) 542-9459.

If you play this month, you'll be on a course the City still rents month to month, alongside 190 acres whose building rules are on Council's agenda for November 19.

Changes to Lake Austin Boulevard will affect how Tarrytown is described, photographed, and marketed for years to come. If you own near the Brackenridge Tract and want to know where your home stands as the plan develops, Justyn LeFebvre can walk you through it. Start with your instant home valuation.