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Austin City Council advances plan to add park fees to new commercial, industrial projects

The fee already applies to new residential developments.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Council on Thursday unanimously voted to approve a preliminary plan to require new commercial, industrial and office developments to pay a fee that the City will use to acquire and develop parkland.

According to KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, the fee already applies to new residential developments.

Before the plan becomes official, the city manager's office must engage with the community before returning to the council with a proposed fee structure, which the council must then approve. According to the Statesman, that is likely to happen before the council approves the City budget in August.

The Statesman reported ahead of the vote that some councilmembers proposed the plan because they think many businesses benefit unfairly from Austin's parks and trails because the companies highlight them as perks to job candidates, but don't pay their share to help develop them.

The City already requires new residential developments, hotels and motels to devote a certain area of their land as public park space or to pay a fee that the City can use to buy and create parks elsewhere. Some residential developments are required to do both, according to the Statesman.

The Statesman's report notes that both the 74-acre Slaughter Creek greenbelt and 100-acre Walnut Creek greenbelt were purchased with residential developer funds.

Read the Statesman's full report to learn more.

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