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Watershed Protection outlines projects for potential 2026 bond; staff to prioritize list in coming weeks
Summary
Austin Watershed Protection staff said projects A–AK fall into the primary stormwater/drainage bucket for a potential 2026 bond and will provide prioritization and a column clarifying bucket placement; staff are coordinating with CDS to align scopes and costs and expect an initial recommendation by mid-December or early January.
Austin Watershed Protection staff briefed the Climate, Water, Environment and Parks Committee on Dec. 2 on potential projects for a 2026 bond cycle, explaining how projects are organized into funding "buckets" and how drainage and stormwater costs are treated.
"All of those projects are in the first bucket," Janae Spence (Watershed Protection) said of the list labeled A through AK in staff materials; she agreed to add a column to clarify whether projects are in the stormwater-resilience bucket or in opportunistic partnership buckets.
Spence and Eric from Capital Delivery Services (CDS) explained that drainage and watershed improvements associated with transportation projects are included in the overall project cost and that staff are working to align project scopes with funding availability. CDS staff said they are updating the status of projects funded by the 2016 bond and are identifying measures to help stalled projects move forward, including partnership funding and design readiness.
Committee members asked whether the A–AK list is already prioritized by need; staff said it is not and that they expect to present an initial staff prioritization and recommendation in December or early January. Staff emphasized that partnership buckets are intentionally opportunistic and will scale depending on total funding levels.
No formal action was taken. Staff said they will provide a prioritized project recommendation and additional project-level detail for committee and council review ahead of bond decisions.
