Item 45: Public Land for Community Good
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2026 12:00 pm
Colleagues,
Tomorrow, I’ll be bringing a resolution to ensure the City is engaging with partners like our school districts, CapMetro, Central Health, ACC and others to find opportunities to retain public land as a public good. Unfortunately, we’re seeing some school campuses close across the city. There are also public entities that may have unused or underused land, or that are actively working on planning and expansion efforts. I see this as an opportunity to create strong partnerships with other public entities to see where we can work together to create new community benefits at unused public sites. We’re talking about opportunities like affordable housing, childcare, health care, food access, and cultural spaces - the basics that allow families to thrive. That’s why we want to ensure we’re proactively working with our partners and our communities on these opportunities.
To that end, I will be incorporating feedback from Councilmember Duchen to emphasize the importance of the community engagement process. I’ll be bringing a Version 2 of this resolution that accomplishes that and invite Councilmember Duchen to cosponsor this item.
Version 2 Redline: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 111416.pdf
I want to thank Councilmembers Harper Madison, Alter and Siegel for co-sponsoring this resolution and invite other Councilmembers to join me in this effort.
Thank you for your consideration.
In community,
Vanessa
Tomorrow, I’ll be bringing a resolution to ensure the City is engaging with partners like our school districts, CapMetro, Central Health, ACC and others to find opportunities to retain public land as a public good. Unfortunately, we’re seeing some school campuses close across the city. There are also public entities that may have unused or underused land, or that are actively working on planning and expansion efforts. I see this as an opportunity to create strong partnerships with other public entities to see where we can work together to create new community benefits at unused public sites. We’re talking about opportunities like affordable housing, childcare, health care, food access, and cultural spaces - the basics that allow families to thrive. That’s why we want to ensure we’re proactively working with our partners and our communities on these opportunities.
To that end, I will be incorporating feedback from Councilmember Duchen to emphasize the importance of the community engagement process. I’ll be bringing a Version 2 of this resolution that accomplishes that and invite Councilmember Duchen to cosponsor this item.
Version 2 Redline: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 111416.pdf
I want to thank Councilmembers Harper Madison, Alter and Siegel for co-sponsoring this resolution and invite other Councilmembers to join me in this effort.
Thank you for your consideration.
In community,
Vanessa