Residents urge Austin to explore alternatives to protect Festival Beach Food Forest amid TxDOT mitigation work

Two public commenters asked the Mobility Committee to intervene in ongoing mitigation and design work near Festival Beach and the Food Forest Project, urging additional study and alternatives to avoid permanent parkland loss.

James O’Brien (who said friends call him Santiago) presented a community‑preferred alternative for the Festival Beach Food Forest and described a four‑foot wastewater pipeline alignment he said could be rerouted if the city pursued a road vacation and used mitigation funds for acquisition or easement changes. He asked the committee for a mobility study to evaluate multimodal impacts and to avoid routing interstate traffic into parkland.

Angelina Alanis, who identified herself with the Food Forest Project, told the committee she believed TxDOT’s work had already removed old‑growth trees and said engineers had treated the site as non‑parkland when preparing plans. She alleged an engineer told Parks and Recreation board member Nicole Merritt that the Food Forest would not be impacted; Alanis said that statement was either an "egregious error" or a lie and asked staff to explore alternatives even if doing so required a month or two of delay.

Chair Paige Ellis thanked the speakers and indicated staff would review the communications and continue engagement with Food Forest representatives. Committee members acknowledged this is a high‑profile topic and said they would follow up; no formal motion or city action was taken at the meeting.