Several new parks opened in Austin during the 2025 fiscal year as part of the city’s goal to have every resident within a 10-minute walk of a park. These developments, completed between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, involved multiple community partnerships and funding sources.
Brownie Neighborhood Park opened in January 2025. The site now includes a picnic pavilion, expanded irrigation system, loop walking trail, solar security lighting, benches, picnic tables, new playground equipment, drinking fountain, basketball court and thirty newly planted shade trees. There is also a vehicular turnaround with ADA-accessible parking spaces. Funding came from the 2018 General Obligation Bond as well as contributions from the Austin Parks Foundation and an Urban Forestry Grant provided by City of Austin Development Services.
A new playground at Little Walnut Creek Greenbelt Trailhead was made available to the public in summer 2025. This followed a community vision planning process begun in 2018 with final plans approved in early 2019. Key amenities prioritized by residents included trails and play areas. The Austin Parks Foundation partnered with Austin Parks and Recreation for this project which also added a dog off-leash area near Springdale Road. Grants from Texas Parks and Wildlife and St. David’s Foundation supported this work. A second phase of trail improvements is scheduled for later in the year.
Scenic Brook Pocket Park officially opened to the public in September 2025 after previously serving as a private neighborhood playground before being deeded to the city by the Scenic Brook Neighborhood Association in 2016. The Austin Parks Foundation awarded a design grant in 2019 that led to an approved concept plan by 2020; construction began summer of 2024. The nearly one-acre park now offers accessible walkways, seating areas, trails, shaded picnic space and playscape features along a tributary of Williamson Creek that supports Barton Springs’ watershed health.
Oertli Neighborhood Park held its ribbon-cutting on November 22, 2024. The six-acre park features include a loop trail connecting two entrances, shade trees throughout the site, playground with pavilion structure, fitness equipment stations and fenced off-leash dog area along with open recreational space. Additional support for shade pavilions came from Austin Parks Foundation funds. Historically used as pastureland by the Oertli family—who operated dairy farms locally for much of the twentieth century—the park includes an on-site Texas Historical Marker commemorating this legacy near Pearl Retreat Drive.
The department stated: “Each new park development supports our mission to inspire Austin to learn, play, protect and connect by creating diverse programs and experiences in sustainable natural spaces and public places.” It added: “We’re grateful for the partnerships and public support that made these projects possible and we look forward to expanding Austin’s parkland for future generations to enjoy!”
