Austin and UT propose a path to keep Muny in public hands

Austin and the University of Texas are working toward an agreement that would transfer Lions Municipal Golf Course to city ownership and preserve the historic public course. The proposal announced Wednesday still has public approval steps ahead, including planned City Council consideration on November 19.

The course, widely known as Muny, sits on university-owned land that the city operates under a lease. Moving the property into city ownership would address the long-running question of whether it could remain a public place to play as the surrounding university land is developed.

Austin’s announcement places the transfer within proposed amendments to the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement. Those amendments cover more than the course: they also outline processes involving a university lease at Mueller, exchanges of city rights-of-way, a proposed tax increment reinvestment zone and a regulating plan.

KVUE’s original report describes the proposed agreement and the effort to preserve the course.

City staff plan to brief the Environmental and Planning Commissions in October before taking the amended agreement to the council in November. Work on the regulating plan and proposed reinvestment zone would then continue into spring 2027, with further commission and council processes.

The preservation question carries a substantial public-golf history. Muny opened in 1924, and the city took over its lease in 1937. The city identifies its 1950 integration as a milestone for public golf in the South and notes its recognition on the National Register of Historic Places as a civil-rights landmark.

The proposed agreement also concerns an active course. Austin says Muny hosts more than 75,000 rounds annually across more than 140 acres, making it the city’s busiest public course. Keeping that land available would protect access to an established golf facility, alongside its green space and history.

Sources

• City of Austin: Proposed Muny preservation agreement
• Axios Austin: Muny could become city-owned

Sources

City of Austin: Proposed Muny preservation agreement · Muny could become city-owned