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Proposed Austin-UT agreement could put Muny golf course in city hands
Austin and the University of Texas are working on a deal that would transfer ownership of Lions Municipal Golf Course to the city and could preserve all 18 holes. The proposal still needs review and approval, with a City Council vote expected Nov. 19.
A proposed agreement between Austin and the University of Texas at Austin would transfer ownership of Lions Municipal Golf Course to the city, potentially securing the future of the historic public course after decades of community efforts to preserve it.
Known as Muny, the course opened in 1924 on more than 140 acres owned by UT. The city currently operates it under a month-to-month lease. In 1950, Muny became the first public golf course in the South to voluntarily desegregate, giving it a significant place in Austin’s civil rights history.
The agreement is being supported by a proposed large gift from anonymous donors to UT, university officials said. It would also give the West Austin Youth Association the land where its campus sits, according to the university.
Scotty Sayers, co-chair of the Muny Conservancy, said the donor funding would help compensate UT for the course and address longstanding concerns about development. Ben Crenshaw, the conservancy’s other co-chair and a two-time Masters champion, said the proposal offers a path that could preserve all 18 holes, while urging the community to continue pressing for the deal.
The proposal would amend the 1989 Brackenridge Development Agreement, which governs private development on UT-owned land on either side of Lake Austin Boulevard. Other proposed components include changes to the university’s lease at the Mueller property, exchanges of city rights-of-way, a proposed Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone and a mutually agreed regulating plan.
City staff are scheduled to brief the Environmental and Planning commissions in October. The amended agreement is expected to go before the full City Council on Nov. 19. More information about zoning and development is expected in spring 2027.
UT said it is working with the city to determine a path for future use and development of the Brackenridge tract that meets the university’s responsibilities. The university said the proposal will ultimately go to its Board of Regents for consideration.