Versión en español a continuación Tourism Commission Meeting May 10, 2021 Tourism Commission to be held May 10, 2021 with Social Distancing Modifications Public comment will be allowed via telephone; no in-person input will be allowed. All speakers must register in advance (Sunday, May 9, 2021 by noon). All public comment will occur at the beginning of the meeting. To speak remotely at the May 10, 2021 Tourism Commission Meeting, members of the public must: •Call or email the board liaison at 512.404.4022 or felicia.ojeda@austintexas.gov no later than noon, (the day before the meeting). The following information is required: speaker name, item number(s) they wish to speak on, whether they are for/against/neutral, email address and telephone number (must be the same number that will be used to call into the meeting). •Once a request to speak has been made to the board liaison, the information to call on the day of the scheduled meeting will be provided either by email or phone call. • Speakers must call in at least 15 minutes prior to meeting start time in order to speak, late callers will not be accepted and will not be able to speak. •Speakers will be placed in a queue until their time to speak. •Handouts or other information may be emailed to felicia.ojeda@austintexas.gov by noon the day before the scheduled meeting. This information will be provided to Board and Commission members in advance of the meeting. • If the meeting is broadcast live, it may be viewed here: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/watch- atxn-live Reunión del Tourism Commission FECHA de la reunion (May 10, 2021) La junta se llevará con modificaciones de distanciamiento social Se permitirán comentarios públicos por teléfono; no se permitirá ninguna entrada en persona. Todos los oradores deben registrarse con anticipación (Sunday, May 9, 2021 antes del mediodía). Todos los comentarios públicos se producirán al comienzo de la reunión. Para hablar de forma remota en la reunión, los miembros del público deben: • Llame o envíe un correo electrónico al enlace de la junta en 512.404.4022 or felicia.ojeda@austintexas.gov a más tardar al mediodía (el día antes de la reunión). Se requiere la siguiente información: nombre del orador, número (s) de artículo sobre el que desean hablar, si están a favor / en contra / neutral, dirección de correo electrónico (opcional) y un número de teléfono (debe ser el número que se utilizará para llamar ). • Una vez que …
PARKS AND ENVIRONMENT WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS May 10, 2021 PARKS AND ENVIRONMENT WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS 1 | Page Table of Contents Introduction A. Directive from Tourism Commission B. Overview of Working Group Process and Recommendations C. Overview Description of Proposed Projects, Activities and Programs to Benefit Parks and Environment Under Chapter 351 Environment Under Chapter 334 D. Overview Description of Proposed Projects, Activities and Programs to Benefit Parks and Exhibit A - Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Eligible Projects, Activities And Programs That Can Benefit Parks And Environment I. PARKS AND ENVIRONMENT WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS 2 | Page I. Introduction This document provides recommendations from the Parks and Environment Working Group to identify Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) eligible projects, activities, and programs that can benefit parks and environment in our community. A. Directive from Tourism Commission On February 20, 2020, the Tourism Commission appointed the Parks and Environment Working Group look into (1) Chapter 351 funding options for using hotel occupancy tax funds to benefit parks and/or environment, (2) Chapter 334 funding options for using hotel occupancy tax funds to benefit parks/environment, (3) park amenities to leverage tourism funding for park- specific projects, and (4) Palm Park HOT funding options. The appointed members of the Parks and Environment Working Group include Commissioners Bunch, Cannatti, Fuentes, and Joslove, and also include community/stakeholder representatives Ladye Anne Wofford (Austin Parks Foundation), Clark Hancock (Save Barton Creek Association), Dan Eck (Hill Country Conservancy) Angela Richter (Save Barton Creek Association), Heath Riddles-Sanchez (Pease Park Conservancy), Adrienne Longenecker (Colorado River Alliance), Molly Alexander (Downtown Austin), Ted Siff, (Shoal Creek Conservancy), Heidi Anderson (The Trail Foundation), Chuck Smith (Pease Park Conservancy), Sarah Story (Umlauf Sculpture). B. Overview of Working Group Process and Recommendations Working virtually, the Working Group identified a list of funding categories under the state’s hotel occupancy tax statute that could benefit our parks and environment. For each funding category, we identified the “statutory basis” for the expenditure, any geographic limitations under state law, whether “maintenance and operations” can be funded, the existence of any “statutory cap” under state law, any “real world examples” of such expenditures, and a summary of the position of the Texas Municipal League regarding HOT expenditures in each category. In addition, we included a description of proposed projects to illustrate how the expenditures might be implemented with HOT funds. The details of this analysis are attached at Exhibit A, and an …
