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Long Term Impact

Clear-cutting of trees from the site and substantial cuts and fills of the grade may irreparably harm the land’s value for future uses. This property is a significant asset of EISD.

The lease agreement anticipates the land returning to the district if EISD needs to sell the property in certain financial situations, or if WHLL defaults on the lease, or at the end of the 50-year lease term.

Should the district sell the property, its value may be dramatically reduced to a potential buyer because of the clearing and leveling of the two hilltops.  This reduction in value may be of an amount far greater than the value of the lease payments received from WHLL.

The proposed site is habitat for endangered species.
The site is confirmed habitat and breeding ground for endangered bird species. WHLL intends to clear much of the site of trees to build the ball fields, potentially damaging or destroying the habitat.

The proposed site has environmentally sensitive features. 
EISD’s engineering reports indicate that this tract is in the Critical Water Quality Zone of the Colorado River. In addition, the tract is within a Water Quality Transition Zone, an Upland Zone, and is in the 100-year floodplain.

The topography is indicated as rugged. Runoff from the land discharges into the Colorado River (Lake Austin), the source of drinking water to numerous water districts including the City of Austin.

The property contains environmentally sensitive features that need to be protected. Several of the proposed fields appear to be drawn in or near areas where these features are located and may need to be moved or eliminated to allow sufficient setback.

Due to the critical environmental features on the west side of the site, the report called for the development of school improvements in the center and eastern portions of the property.

The watershed of the property runs directly into Eanes Creek.
The back of the property drains down to Eanes Creek, a direct tributary to the Colorado River (Lake Austin). Many residents use this creek for water and access to the lake. They are concerned about any negative impact to the quality of their water supply in addition to the potential damage that would be caused by the silting of the shallow creek as a result of the massive amount of soil disturbance caused by the razing of the two hilltops.

The creek drains into Lake Austin at a point just above the fresh water intake for the Rob Roy on the Lake subdivision, again causing concern about the negative impact to the quality of the water supply.

This project will consume an inordinate amount of water.
This hilltop site has very thin topsoil covering layers of solid limestone making it much more difficult than typical ball field sites to grow fields of grass.

Growing lush grass for full time sporting use will require an inordinate amount of water and fertilization (resulting in extremely high operating costs). Given the recent severe drought conditions, and the resulting awareness of utilizing water efficiently, EISD recently approved replacing grass fields with artificial turf at two of their school sites located nearby in the hill country.

Water Contamination
Area residents are concerned about area well water contamination from ball field fertilization and other chemicals. Many surrounding residents get their water from water wells and are concerned that fertilizers and other chemicals used on the site could contaminate their water supply.

Legal Concerns

The River Hills lease agreement may have potential legal issues.

The lease payments are extremely low – amounting to less than $12/day per field. To our knowledge, the property was not appraised as part of the lease negotiations. The lease also contains various terms that may not be fair market value.

EISD may not be receiving fair market value by $10 million to $20+ million over the life of the lease. If the lease terms are less than fair market value, the difference may be construed as a gift from EISD to WHLL, which could have important legal and financial consequences for both parties.

Furthermore, this does not sit well with many taxpayers in the community at a time when EISD is running significant deficits, and school support groups are pleading for public donations to help support the district.

Uncertainty in the EISD lease agreement is not good for WHLL or the neighborhoods.
The lease states that EISD has a future use for the ball field property. The lease also allows EISD to cancel the lease at any time with one years notice in the event that the property is needed for educational purposes, or to sell the property in certain financial situations.

EISD has indicated that they would like to build a school on the River Hills site. EISD’s engineering report indicated 5 ball fields (not 12 as proposed by WHLL) when the site was used in conjunction with a school.

We are not aware of any recent study that indicates that the site remaining after the WHLL lease is sufficient to accommodate a future school, or any future educational purpose needed at that location.

Better Options / WHLL Board Split

There are other, better solutions…

Travis County owns over $50 million in parkland with more than 2,000 acres of publicly owned land in Southwestern and Western Travis County alone that could be developed into youth facilities in Western Travis County.

What is the Right Solution?
If WHLL must build a MegaSportsComplex, then they should find a more appropriate site, in an area where they are wanted.
WNA will not support a development of this scale located in any residential neighborhood, unless the neighborhood is in favor of the project.

No neighborhood should have to endure the issues that come with a facility of this size. The River Hills site is not an appropriate site from any perspective – it’s a hilly, environmentally sensitive site, with bad access, in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

The only reason it’s being proposed on the River Hills tract is because the lease price to EISD is almost trivial – less than $12/day per field. An appropriate site for this type of complex is one that has great access, located in a commercial area, on flat land with deep soil conducive to building ball fields.

Create Multiple Neighborhood Friendly Sites
What would most people want to see built if this project was in their neighborhood? Even though the Western Hills facility at Rollingwood Park is much smaller in scale, it has not been without controversy.

That site has 3 baseball fields, one swim center, tennis courts and basketball courts. It is located on relatively flat land with much better access than the River Hills site. It does not have any field lighting or amplified PA system.