Rollingwood Park's Off-Leash Area Is Waiting on a Drainage Number

"The project can't really move forward without knowing which drainage aspects will be required, so project cost estimates remain unknown." That line comes from the July 14, 2026 minutes of the Rollingwood Park Commission, and nothing published since has replaced it.

If you've been waiting for the off-leash area at Rollingwood Park, the holdup isn't a vote or a neighbor dispute. Council approved the design unanimously in May. What the project needs now is an engineering answer about where the stormwater goes. Until that answer arrives, nobody can put a price on the work, and without a price the funding can't be settled.

Every vote this project needed has already passed

The decisions were made quickly. Here is the order they came in:

1. May 13, 2026. City Council approved "Plan 16" as the general design 5 to 0. It includes a 0.59-acre off-leash area, a revised concrete parking lot layout, removal of the north parking lot area, and irrigation improvements. Details such as fencing will come back for separate review.
2. June 8, 2026. The Rollingwood Community Development Corporation (RCDC) board reaffirmed that it intends to fund all or some of the improvements, depending on available funds and the total project cost.
3. June 17, 2026. At Mayor Gavin Massingill's suggestion, Council voted 5 to 0 to have him build a single bid package covering both the off-leash area and the parking lot, and to bring the final package back to Council.
4. July 14, 2026. Staff reported that rough estimates for materials and construction had been put together with Curt Arnette of Sitio Designs and Robert Dial of Dial Development Services. The city engineer, Lochner, was still working out the cost of the drainage options.
5. September 8, 2026. The project was back on the Park Commission agenda, but the status sheet attached to it was the July 14 sheet again. There was still no new price and no bid schedule.

Every step since June has been staff and consultants working toward a number. That's why the north end of the park looks the same today as it did in spring.

Why the drainage number matters so much

There is a reason the drainage question comes before everything else. The process the city set up runs in sequence. Lochner delivers a drainage estimate. That estimate goes to RCDC, and RCDC decides how much to put toward the project. Each step depends on the one before it.

The money question is already visible. In June, RCDC raised its park improvement budget line from $50,000 to $55,000. At its August 10 meeting, the board's minutes say that line, number 5388, "currently does not include enough funding to pay for the proposed improvements (parking lot and off-leash area) at the park." The same meeting showed RCDC's total assets at $983,387.84 as of June 30. The mayor had also advised the board to start setting money aside for the MoPac South expansion in the coming fiscal year. So the park project is competing with other demands on the same fund.

The city's own budget doesn't settle it either. Council adopted the FY2026–27 budget on September 16, with $708,023 for the parks department out of $5.22 million in general-fund spending, and it took effect October 1. Community Impact's report on the budget doesn't break out an amount for the off-leash area or the parking lot.

There is one detail that could shape how the project feels once it's built. At the June 17 meeting, Councilmember Kevin Glasheen asked that sodding be left out of the contractor's scope. He suggested the community plant the sod at the north end of the park together instead. If that idea survives into the final bid package, the last step of the dog area may be a neighborhood work day rather than a crew.

Next door, the courts were moving the whole time

The neighborhood's private tennis club offers a useful comparison. It shares the upper park parking area with the city, and its rebuild ran through the same months.

The club has a new public name. Western Hills Athletic Club is now Rollingwood Athletic Club. Steve Marcie told the Park Commission chair in a June 24 update that he met with City Administrator Alun Thomas before the change to make sure the city had no concerns. According to the state's accessibility project record, the work replaces two tennis courts with four in the same footprint and rebuilds the sidewalks between the parking lot, the clubhouse, and the courts. The record lists an estimated cost of $1,785,952, a start date of April 1, 2026, and private funding.

Concrete for the two lower courts was poured June 11. That was two days after the Park Commission heard that city staff hoped to have dog-area pricing by the next meeting. In June, the club expected the lower courts to open in late July, court 3 in early August, and court 4 in late August, with punch-list work after that. The state record gives a later completion estimate of October 24. Neither source confirms the work is finished, so if you're a member, the club is the place to ask which courts are open.

The two projects share some friction. The June update said club members were frustrated about parking during construction, and it asked crews to park on the street. The Park Commission had raised construction trucks driving through the upper park parking lot. Development Services Manager Nikki Stautzenberger said she required 48 hours' notice before the contractor uses city property. The club was also considering a request from Austin Country Club to take in some of its youth swimmers while that club's pool is under construction.

A private club paying for work on its own land moves on its own board's schedule. A public dog area that needs stormwater engineering has to go through the city engineer, a development corporation, and Council. Over one summer, the two ended up in very different places.

The lower park is waiting on City Hall

A separate decision is holding up a different part of the park. In June, the Park Commission tabled improvements to the lower park because a new City Hall might be built. An April 15 agenda summary had left most of that question open, including whether the city would renovate, expand, or replace the building, whether a replacement would move, and how large it would be.

Smaller maintenance is still happening in the meantime. Public Works Director Izzy Parra was set to put decomposed granite on eroded spots. The commission also looked at mosquito control in the lower park and found no nontoxic way to prevent mosquitoes. Commissioner Mary Elizabeth Cofer suggested planting lemongrass and eucalyptus, and also asked staff to send mosquito-prevention tips with the water bill.

What the park is hosting this fall

None of these pending decisions changes how the park gets used week to week. The fall calendar runs on what's already built.

The city's listing says the movie night is open to Eanes Elementary families and the wider Rollingwood community. The Rollingwood Women's Club also has three evenings on its fall calendar:

• "Hue Are You? A Color Analysis Party" on October 27
• "Gather, Give & Grow: A Fall Floral & Nonprofit Night" on November 17
• The Rollingwood Holiday Party on December 8, which the listing says is open to all adult Rollingwood residents

If you want to follow the off-leash area, the next places to watch are the Park Commission meeting on Tuesday, October 13, and the City Council meeting on October 21. If you'd rather help it along, the Friends of Rollingwood Park has QR-code donation flyers posted in both the upper and lower park. The fund held $1,715 in June, and the commission talked about using the new park project to raise more.

Bridget Ramey follows Rollingwood the way residents do, from Park Commission agendas to sideline schedules. If you'd like to talk through how projects like the new park and the City Hall decision fit into your own plans here, please schedule a private consultation.