Our Community

Colony Park, Lakeside Hills, and LBJ neighborhood residents have advocated for increased investments, services, and amenities in their neighborhoods since the 1970s. The Colony Park Sustainable Community is one part of this legacy. Beginning in 2012, the City and community jointly led efforts to develop the 208 acres of City-owned property on Loyola Lane between Johnny Morris Road and Decker Lane.

The project is led by a group of community leaders known as the Colony Park Core Team. This “Core Team” consists of representatives from the Colony Park, Lakeside, Agave, Woodland Hills and LBJ neighborhoods. Together, the Core Team crafted a community-focused vision for this area and the Colony Park Sustainable Community. To unify their vision, they created Eight Pillars to guide their work:

Improve mobility, connectivity, and safety of community
Improve access to health care resources and services
Improve access to open spaces and activate parks
Improve access to healthy food resources
Improve access to economic vitality of community
Improve educational opportunities
Improve equal access to workforce housing
Improve quality of life through accessing available City/County resources

Over the course of the Colony Park Sustainable Community project, the Core Team has advocated for the Eight Pillars to better serve the needs of the surrounding communities. The Eight Pillars serve a dual purpose in describing both the lack resources in the community but also the foundation for how the Core Team approaches their work.

The Core Team’s personal experiences and relationships empower them to make valuable contributions to this project. They bring new opportunities to the project while bridging partners with the City. They have significantly contributed to the success of this project, including:

Participatory Master Planning:

Advocating for a community-focused vision in Colony Park
Writing the initial Public Engagement Plan for the project
Participating in the selection of the Master Plan Design Team
Reading and proofing the Colony Park Sustainable Community Master Plan and Design Guidelines
Attending public and project meetings consistently over the four-year master planning and adoption process for the Colony Park Sustainable Community

Searching for a Development Partner

Co-hosting a series of community forums where data was collected and used to inform the development of the Request for Qualifications (RFQS)
Reviewing and providing input on the Request for Qualifications (RFQS) and Request for Proposal (RFP), including developing a scoring section specific to addressing experience working with similar communities
Selecting a community member to sit on the developer evaluation panel and who scored the community section of the RFQ and RFP
Co-hosting a Public Open House for a video presentation by the finalist where the scores provided by the attendees contributed towards the evaluation of the finalist’s proposal
Attending regular monthly meetings with city staff, project consultants, and stakeholders to continue furthering the Eight Pillars of the community.

In May 2020, the City of Austin entered into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with Catellus Development Corporation (Catellus) for the Colony Park Sustainable Community project. This agreement allows the City, Catellus and community to work towards implementing the Colony Park Master Plan through the execution of a Master Development Agreement. As this process unfolds, the community will play an even more critical role in providing oversight for implementation of the Eight Pillars and bringing forward the evolving needs of local residents.