I would like to wrap up my extensive research into the TxDOT TTC $25M Boardwalk by sharing my summary findings with the public, and by providing a library of primary-source documents (mostly emails, meeting presentations) so that you — the reader — can read the words for yourself and perhaps come to new narratives or conclusions. The “Summary findings” report that you are reading is also available as a PDF document at this link: DP's Public Information Request DATABASE is organized as a timeline. Please feel free to browse. My audit requests sent to the CoA Auditor Hyatt PUD Developer’s plans for the 1LBL Boardwalk: • Related's plans for the Hyatt PUD Developer: 1 Lady Bird Lake |
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Summary findings.
Diana Prechter, 02-18-2026
A timeline begins, 2023: “Trail Conservancy Funding Opportunities”
Several emails were flying around in the spring of 2023 with the subject line: “Trail Conservancy Funding Opportunities.”
The emails were sent to CAMPO 2023-03-16.
The emails were sent to TxDOT.2023-05-11.
A huge amount of federal funding was coming to Austin from the $1.2 TRILLION bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law in November 2021. TxDOT tapped into the funding for their CapEX I35 Expansion Project through Central Austin, TX.
The Public Interest Network refers to the CapEX I35 Expansion project as a boondoggle. Their 2023 article noted TxDOT’s “lack of transparency and deceptive planning processes.”
My PIR evidence shows that TxDOT’s plan to allow the Trail Conservancy (TTC) to construct the Hyatt PUD Developer’s 1LBL Boardwalk with $25M of public funding was accomplished with similar lack of transparency and deceptive planning processes.
Relying on a 2021 mobility study that identified a long-standing pinch-point on the Trail in front of the new Hyatt PUD Development, TTC proposed that TxDOT’s federal funds be used to pay TTC to build one or two boardwalk projects along the Trail: (1) A Seaholm boardwalk and (2) the Hyatt PUD/One Lady Bird Lake (1LBL Boardwalk).
As the developer of a big capital improvement project on CoA parkland, TTC could realize a massive “Funding Opportunity”: “Off-the-top” percentage fees retained by the boardwalk developer, free CoA parkland valued at $14.8M, free taxpayer money for construction. The only problems were that (a) TTC was not a governmental entity eligible to receive funds directly, and (b) TTC was confined by their CoA 2022 POMA which forced them into a secondary role on all matters of the PARD-owned (Parks Department) Trail.
TTC CEO Heidi Anderson and all TTC Board Members decided to act outside of the confines of the POMA, claiming authority where they had none. TTC’s deception was recognized by PARD Asst. Director Kallivoka in 2024:
“This statement is misleading, in my opinion. TTC, in effect, eliminated PARD's input and involvement. How on earth!”
Using their connections to the Hyatt PUD Developer and their board members, TTC began a campaign to act as unregistered lobbyists to the State of Texas.
A clear example of a TTC unregistered lobbyist:
TTC needed to make it look like the Parks Department wanted the boardwalk(s). As a favor to TTC CEO Anderson, PARD Dir. Kimberly McNeeley complied, attending a meeting with TTC and TxDOT on 2023-05-15. The two boardwalks were being considered by TxDOT.
The essential meeting in which McNeeley and TTC presented the Developer’s Boardwalk to TxDOT was held on 05-15-2023:
• 2023-05-15_TxDOT_PARD_TrailConservancy_ATW_meeting.pdf
(This meeting presentation is fascinating for several reasons, but one issue lingers: The Waller Beach valuation on this date was $32M. The “6F” category required that TxDOT award 6F mitigation of equal value. It is unclear why the final payment to the CoA was $13.2M. See Ref. [6], Unexplained at present: Why did the City negotiate $13.2M for Waller Beach when the appraised value was $32M, and 6F protection required it to be reimbursed to the City at full value?)
After the May 15th meeting, TTC proceeded to negotiate with TxDOT alone.
(The story of McNeeley continues on a track that returns to this timeline in 2024. In Sept. 2023, McNeeley was made fully aware that TxDOT planned to give $25M to TTC if a funding scheme could be invented. Heidi Anderson resigned from her position as TTC CEO. McNeeley applied and was accepted. McNeeley terminated her employment with the Parks Department in May-June 2024; in July, McNeeley had the TTC’s proposed 1LBL Boardwalk on the agenda of the Austin Public Facilities Corporation (APFC). With TTC now represented by CEO McNeeley, the APFC accepted the role of “local governmental intermediary” to keep the funding and control under TTC and out of the hands of PARD.)
Four days later — on 2023-05-19 — the Hyatt PUD Developer’s full boardwalk plans were sent directly from TTC to TxDOT.
- 2023-05-19 Fwd__1LBL_-_Boardwalk_Design_and_Title_Report__1__R Screenshot internal link to Related landscaping and boardwalk plans.png
The (Related) Hyatt PUD Developer’s 1LBL Boardwalk plans:
The source document was recently removed from the Developer’s server after I located the link in a PIR and downloaded the plans. Here is my downloaded copy:
• Related’s plans for 1 Lady Bird Lake Boardwalk and landscaping
By June, 2023, TTC stopped including Parks Department staff in their meetings and emails with TxDOT: TTC was no longer cooperating with PARD but was competing with PARD for mitigation fees. (See Ref [1], Summer 2023, TTC negotiates with TxDOT without the Parks Department)
Pondering: What did TxDOT staff know about the boardwalk? And why were they committed to giving preferential treatment to TTC and/or the Hyatt PUD Developer? Why did TxDOT staff have contempt for COA PARD?
TxDOT knew that it was being asked to fund the Hyatt PUD Developer’s 1LBL Boardwalk: The link they received was the full 1LBL Boardwalk plans direct from the Developer’s document server.
Why did TxDOT staff work so hard to prevent the COA PARD from being involved in a development project on parkland? I see it this way: By controlling the funding through TTC, the Developer could be assured that NO OTHER SOLUTION TO THE PINCH POINT WOULD BE CONSIDERED BY THE PARKS DEPARTMENT.
I believe that the “TTC connection” is the Hyatt PUD Developer’s preferred solution. If CoA PARD controlled the boardwalk funding, the Developer would be at risk of not having the 1LBL Boardwalk designed and built according to the Developer’s plan. It might not have been built at all if the CoA PARD was successful in parkland dedication negotiations with the —same — Hyatt PUD Developer.
It may be that this was a “Developer deal” negotiated by other parties — such as State Legislators — and advanced under the largesse of the CapEX I35 Expansion project.
Mayor Watson’s role can only be guessed. He is a strong supporter of the TxDOT I35 Expansion Project:
“For more than a decade, we’ve worked with TxDOT and state leaders to design a project that addresses Austin’s mobility needs and reflects our values.” -Watson
Watson served in the Texas State Legislature from 2007-2020.
In 2013, Watson served on the Transportation Committee.
Watson was the first to announce publicly that the $25M Boardwalk would be funded by the CapEX I35 Expansion Project: He announced the $25M Boardwalk after a meeting with State Legislators.
The public should consider: Is the $25M a gift or a bribe?
TxDOT is dangling $25M in front of Council members saying “build this 1LBL Boardwalk or else we are taking our money back.” TxDOT apparently intends the $25M to “break the City’s rules”: Rules that must be followed for selection of parkland projects, for PARD-led community engagement, for RFP’s and for competitive bidding. (See Ref. [5], The PARD Rules for capital improvement projects on parkland)
June-August 2023, TTC was busy scheduling private meetings with TxDOT staff, getting a Boardwalk cost estimate and connecting Leah Bojo to TxDOT.
By this time, TTC was clearly acting outside of its POMA (contract) with the Parks Department.
We know this from 2025 emails: Key staff in the Parks Department (now called "APR" or PARD) Christine Chute-Canul and Liana Kallivoka both sent emails that explained that a new TTC contract would be needed: The current Parks contract had failed to describe TTC's actions with TxDOT or TTC's self-claimed authority to build a Boardwalk without PARD participation.
On 2025-10-26 PARD Asst. Director Kalivoka stated:
"I think APR's goal should be to not get involved, and when the project is finished, to have TTC and ATPW take on maintenance. This should not be part of a POMA with APR."
See also 2025-10-26 Chute Canul says TTC is lead, ATPW owner? .pdf
In summer 2023, TTC was acting as if it had a “primary authority over parkland” to lead a capital improvement project on parkland. The 2022 POMA had failed to contain TTC as ‘secondary” in all matters related to the PARD-owned Trail. For this reason, I think that the 2022 POMA should be terminated and re-drafted.
By July 2023, TTC’s Heidi Anderson was on the move, arranging private conversations with TxDOT’s Heather Ashley-Nguyen, asking Jay Reese to estimate the construction cost of 1LBL Boardwalk, and making “connections” between TxDOT and Leah Boho, the Hyatt PUD Developer’s Agent to the CoA. (See Ref [1], Summer 2023, TTC negotiates with TxDOT without the Parks Department)
In August 2023, TxDOT published the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The Boardwalk is mentioned in Appendix M under “4F mitigation” approved by the Federal Highways Administration.
The following excerpt from the TxDOT FEIS shows that “coordination” for 4F mitigation “for park and trail impacts” was made exclusively with COA PARD.
Acting against their own legal framework (the FEIS), some TxDOT staff members spent countless hours trying to figure out a way to NOT pay the $25M 4F mitigation to COA PARD. (See Ref [2], Fall 2023, TxDOT staff contortions)
In Sept. 2023, TTC, TxDOT and Parks Dir. McNeeley had a meeting in which TxDOT explained their funding scheme: Together, they would find a way for TTC to receive the $25M to build the Hyatt PUD Developer’s 1LBL Boardwalk.
The meeting of Sept.5 was arranged with “personal salutations” and a request to add Kimberly McNeeley to the attendee list. For TxDOT staff, McNeeley’s attendance was an afterthought.
TTC’s Anderson: ”Also adding Kimberly McNeeley, Director of the Parks Department.”
2023-10-05: An email summary of the 2023-09-05 TxDOT-TTC-McNeeley meeting shows that McNeeley kept the TxDOT-TTC plan — that the Parks Department would not be involved in the 1LBL Boardwalk construction project — a secret. Her email slyly avoids says exactly which entity would receive the funding. Excerpt:
Email evidence from a year later in 2024 shows that McNeeley failed to explain the Boardwalk scenario to her top staff. In August 2024, Asst. Director Kallivoka was “unclear” about the Boardwalk proposal:
“I am unclear about the connection between the Hyatt PUD and the boardwalk that TxDOT was discussing with TTC.”
On 2024-08-15, PARD's Ricardo Soliz (Park Planning Division Manager) stated:
"TxDOT is providing $25M for the building of the boardwalk to satisfy their 4F requirements. This was news to me. TxDOT is dictating the 4F mitigation without our input."
The funding scheme takes a year to develop:
In spring of 2024, TTC’s Hanna Cofer collaborated with TxDOT staff to create a funding scheme that would exclusively pay the $25M to TTC (with the APFC as intergovernmental agency), bypassing the COA PARD and contradicting the FEIS.
McNeeley kept the TTC $25M funding scheme a secret from PARD long enough to resign from the Parks Department and begin her new employment as the TTC’s CEO in 2024. In July 2024, McNeeley herself put TTC’s 1LBL Boardwalk Presentation on the agenda of the Austin Public Facilities Corporation (APFC).
Note: The TTC’s $25M Boardwalk project received a “revolving door” approval by McNeeley: In 2023, McNeeley helped her friend Heidi Anderson. In 2024, McNeeley took Anderson’s job and became the TTC CEO, allowing McNeeley to control the massive “secret” project.
By August 2024, key staffers in PARD were briefed by McNeeley. They were nearly speechless:
Tom and I participated in a … meeting that Kimberly requested. I left that meeting in shock. It seems to me that they have funneled $25 million in 4f mitigation funds to a private developer to build a boardwalk and remove the trail from the front of the Hyatt.
As Parks Asst. Director Kallivoka stated on the record in Jan. 2025:
PARD staff has not been involved in the decisions related to the TxDOT $25 million mitigation funds…
2025, a new Parks Director, a new year: How TxDOT explained the 1LBL Boardwalk to incoming Parks Director Jesus Aguirre
On Feb. 14, 2025, the TxDOT Director of Transportation, Planning and Development, Heather Ashley-Nguyen sent an email to the new Austin Parks Director Jesus Aguirre summarizing TxDOT’s plans for construction of the 1LBL Boardwalk.
2025-02-14: TxDOT’s Heather Ashley-Nguyen explained the Boardwalk to the new PARD director:
At one point we were hoping to use the developer’s land or the boardwalk itself as the 6f replacement, but both were denied because the are[area] is already being used as recreation. This was all in close coordination with PARD. Also, TxDOT is working with the Austin Public Facilities Corporation (APFC) as our contracting party with the backup Code Texas Local Government Code , Chapter 303. Therefore, APFC is the Local Government my team is drafting the standard Advanced Funding Agreement with.
The problems with this email:
- 2024-2025 emails by PARD staff give evidence that it was absolutely not “in close coordination with PARD”.
- The APFC’s role has since collapsed (the APFC directors lied about its “current nonprofit status” in their application for registration to the TX Secretary of State), and we know now that TxDOT’s $25M funding will likely be paid to PARD after all (TBD).
- It omits explaining to the new PARD director that the proposed 1LBL Boardwalk location is 6 acres of dedicated parkland valued at $14.8M (TCAD Property ID.s 190731 and 190737).
New Parks Director Jesus Aguirre spoke to the Parks Board in 2025.
On 2025-03-04, Parks Director Aguirre answered questions about the $25M Boardwalk at the Parks Board Meeting. (See Ref. [3], March 2025, Aguirre’s explanation to the Parks Board). From his statement, we understand that Aguirre believed:
- that the 1LBL Boardwalk location is “water” and not property (incorrect); and
- that it’s okay for the Boardwalk to be “built outside of City process.”
Both of Aguirre’s ideas could cause major problems for the citizens of Austin.
Problem #1: We know that the proposed Boardwalk location is 6 acres of dedicated parkland known as “water parcels” — Property IDs 190731 and 190737 — with TCAD value of $14.8M. The parkland is under the authority of the Parks Department. The parcels host two popular boating concessions. As parkland parcels, these 6 acres are subject to strict rules inside the CoA Parks Department that govern capital improvement projects on parkland. (See Ref. [5], The PARD Rules for capital improvement projects on parkland)
Problem #2: All construction projects on public land (not just parkland) must follow the rules for procurements. If TTC is allowed to construct a boardwalk outside of city processes this means: No RFP’s, no competitive bidding. This would conflict with the CoA Charter. § 15. - PURCHASE PROCEDURE.
“All contracts or purchases involving more than $5,000.00 shall be let to the bid deemed most advantageous to the city after there has been an opportunity for competitive bidding;”
In 2026, Director Aguirre is now in a position to make a key decision:
- Will Aguirre recognize that the land is not just “water” but parkland parcels and therefore governed by the Rules for capital improvement projects on parkland? Will Aguirre enforce the City’s Charter. § 15. - PURCHASE PROCEDURE? Will the Parks Department perform community engagement? Will the CoA draft an RFP and solicit for a construction company using competitive bidding?
- Or will Aguirre, like his predecessor McNeely, demonstrate by his actions that he supports the TTC above and beyond his obligation to enforce the CoA parkland development procedures?
The City of Austin should not be contorting itself to enrich TTC.
The job posting for the new Parks director in 2024 asked for candidates who would support park nonprofits. Jesus Aguirre got the job. His job duties require his general support for park nonprofits. Dir. Aguirre’s previous employer was the Austin park nonprofit Waterloo Greenway Conservancy. As CEO of WGC, Aguirre earned over $300K in 2023. (See Ref. [4], Aguirre earned over $300K a year as a Nonprofit CEO).
He recently unilaterally awarded an unprecedented 15-year contract to Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) in partnership with the nonprofit Austin Parks Foundation.
At present in 2026, Aguirre’s loyalty to the taxpaying public has not yet been proven.
The TTC’s $25M Boardwalk is the next test case for the Parks Department Director.
Will the Parks Department enforce:
- the 2022 TTC POMA (in which TTC has only a secondary role, PARD has primary authority)?
- the Rules for capital improvement projects on parkland?
- the City Charter requirements for competitive bidding?
In 2026, citizens must watch the Parks Department and dissuade them from “lack of transparency and deceptive planning processes” in the proposed $25M Boardwalk plan.
Does the Parks Department serve the public? Or the Hyatt PUD Developer?
My specific request:
If TTC wants to build a boardwalk, it must be a project selected by the Parks Department, under the terms of the existing TTC 2022 POMA, and by normal processes: CoA RFP’s and competitive bidding.
To build a boardwalk, TTC must win the competitive bid.
