As development reduces the amount of available land in Central Austin, neighborhood groups are advocating for new and improved parks within their communities.

In June, community advocates pushed plans to build new parks in the Crestview and Highland neighborhoods. Meanwhile, grass-roots fundraising efforts to improve Wooldridge Square Park and Barton Hills Community Park continue making progress.

"I think the grass-roots efforts ... get started because a need is not being addressed by the powers that be," Crestview resident Kat Correa said. "When that goes on for so long and people get so fed up with it, they take matters into their own hands."

Sara Hensley, Austin Parks and Recreation Department director, said she appreciates neighborhood advocates pushing for new and improved parks. Having grass-roots support makes it easier to advocate for increased funding for the parks and recreation department, she said.

"We need all the help we can get," she said.

However, Hensley said that building and maintaining new parks takes time and money, which the department does not have in large supply. The parks department has 255 parks in its system and maintains more than 300,000 trees. The city's goal is to have 24 acres of parkland per 1,000 Austin residents, but currently has about 21 acres per 1,000 residents.

"All across the board, parks are underfunded, [and] they are underserved," Correa said. "We are not acquiring parkland to accommodate our growing population."

Given the funding limitations of the parks department, Kathleen Schneeman, the project lead of the Friends of Barton Hills Community Park, said it is crucial for neighborhood groups to unite and secure different funding sources.

FBHCP has applied for and received a large grant from the Austin Parks Foundation and smaller grants from government agencies to improve the park. The group held a community fundraiser in March that raised more than $26,000 to purchase new playground equipment at the park, and it has reached out to possible sponsors and companies that might donate money for the park, Schneeman said.

Hensley said projects in which the parks department partners with the community, nonprofits and businesses are the future of the department. The parks department in 2012 hired a new staff member that specifically works on community-driven park improvement efforts, and the department completed six community-led park projects in 2012, she said.

"As the city continues to grow, we need to be cognizant and have a finger on the pulse [of the community] to have parkland and parks where the city is seeing huge growth," she said. "People move to Austin because of the quality of life, and that's a good thing, so people need to care about their parks."

Community-led park projects in Central Austin

1. Barton Hills Community Park

Residents of the Barton Hills neighborhood are in the midst of an effort to make the Barton Hills Community Park more accessible to children, the elderly and everyone in between.

The Friends of Barton Hills Community Park, a group composed of residents of Barton Hills and the surrounding area, is working to improve the 4.76-acre park that is adjacent to Barton Hills Elementary School. Proposed improvements range from new playground equipment to a pavilion that would serve as a neighborhood gathering place.

The proposed improvements are detailed in a five-year master plan City Council approved in 2012.

"Our vision is to create Austin's first sustainable park where neighbors and schoolchildren alike use the space for play, gathering and community building," the master plan says.

Barton Hills residents decided to work on improving the park following the proposed closure of BHES, FBHCP member Kathleen Schneeman said. Residents wanted to proactively work on an issue, and improving BHCP made sense because it "is all dirt and really hasn't been updated or maintained over the years," Schneeman said.

FBHCP was formed and held focus groups in 2011 to identify potential park improvements. The group then created a master plan based on those recommended improvements.

Schneeman said the neighborhood group is in the midst of a five-year plan to raise the money needed to improve the park.

"We want the park to be a hub where people can gather," she said. "All of our improvements are wrapped around that idea."

2. Crestview neighborhood park

Despite having approximately 2,000 homes, the Crestview neighborhood does not technically have a park of its own.

Residents are working to change that by trying to convert a 5.6-acre Austin Energy site, which is expected to vacate the location in 2014 or 2015, into a multi-acre park with potential open space, an off-leash dog area and smaller play ares. Supporters held a rally in front of City Hall in June to show their support for the Crestview park.

Crestview resident Kat Correa, who is helping lead the effort, said the location at 6909 Ryan Drive is ideal for a park because the land is already owned by the city and is across the street from single-family homes. The location is also a part of the transit-oriented development map for the Lamar/Justin district, which called for a park to be built in the TOD within five years.

"We are inside that timeline, so we are trying to work with the city and City Council members to make them realize that this land is better served as parkland for the immediate neighborhood and the TOD," Correa said.

Councilwoman Kathie Tovo co-sponsored a resolution in January directing staff to explore the possibilities of redeveloping the tract. The resolution asked staff to consider options for the site ranging from using the whole tract as a park to exploring whether the site could accommodate housing and a park.

"I am excited about the possibilities for the Ryan Drive site and am eager to see it redevelop in a way that provides great benefit for the immediate neighbors as well as the larger Austin community," Tovo said.

Community meetings on the issue are expected to begin in late July or early August, Tovo said.

3. Highland neighborhood park

In June, the Highland Neighborhood Association voted in favor of pursuing a park at a location currently occupied by the University Hills Optimist Fields at 401 St. Johns Ave.

"If we are ever going to have a park, this is going to be it," HNA President Damon Howze said.

The City of Austin watershed protection department owns the land occupied by the optimist fields, which includes four ball fields that are used for recreational sports. The department had been in talks with HNA for years about relocating the fields in order to build a water retention pond, which would then allow for parkland, Howze said.

However, the department told HNA in December that it had changed its plans to keep the fields and replace 70 parking spaces with a dry detention pond. Howze said the neighborhood association worked to prevent that plan because it would have eliminated the area's chance for a park and resulted in more overflow parking from the fields into the neighborhood.

In June HNA formed a park committee to explore potential ideas and funding mechanisms to convert the fields into a park.

Edward Reznicek, a charter member of the University Hills Optimist Club, said the organization has welcomed the public to use the facility's open spaces, picnic tables, shaded tree grove and playground equipment.

UHO supports designating the land as a park, but wants to keep the youth sports fields that annually serve more than 1,000 children, Reznicek said. UHO has asked the city to consider turning a strip of land west of Northcrest Boulevard and on the east side of Waller Creek into parkland. UHO is also in support of the Crestview neighborhood park, Reznicek said.

"The combination of 401 W. St. Johns, 6909 Ryan Street property and the vacant land along Northcrest and east side of 401 W. St. Johns would provide [approximately] 15 acres of park land for the Highland and Crestview Neighborhood Associations and the youth of Austin," he said.

Howze said there will be stakeholder meetings with optimist fields leadership, City Council and staff, the watershed protection department and HNA to discuss the issue by the end of summer.

4. Wooldridge Square Park

With the upcoming September reopening of Wooldridge Square Park, community stakeholders are eyeing further potential short- and long-term improvements to the park.

Friends of Wooldridge Square Park, a group that includes members from the community, the Downtown Austin Alliance and the Austin Parks Foundation, are aiming to raise approximately $17,000 to refurbish the park's historic bandstand. FWSP also issued a two-question community survey to get feedback from the community on their memories of the park and what residents would like to see happen to it in the future.

FWSP founder and chairman Michael McGill said the survey is the beginning of a more extensive long-term planning effort to improve the park.

WSP has been closed since May 2012 as the city completes basic restoration work and adds a new irrigation system, trees and turf grass to the park. The project's $300,000 price tag is covered by parkland dedication fees.

The restoration work was aimed at bringing the park back to a baseline, workable condition, McGill said. The FWSP efforts are focused on further improving the park and bringing in more people, with potential future projects including making the park American with Disabilities Act accessible and installing more lighting.

FWSP has also been looking for additional partners to see what weekly and monthly activities could be held at the park.

"We are interested in what appropriate things can we do to improve the utility of the park," McGill said. "It's something that will continue beyond the opening of the park."

Having the park be widely accessible and useful is necessary given its history and location, McGill said. The park was a part of the original plan of the city created in 1839, and it serves the increasing number of residents, employees and visitors downtown, McGill said.

"The location and the history and the proximity to so many residents and workers of the state is why the green space is so important," McGill said.

Parks and recreation department and community- initiated projects recently completed in Central Austin

The city of Austin Parks and Recreation Department has stepped up its efforts to work on community-led park projects, Director Sara Hensley said.

The department completed six community-driven park projects in 2012. There are more than 50 community-led projects in the planning and development phases, Hensley said.

department, $100,000 from private investment