Perry Park's Soccer Field Runs on a League Contract, and Its Schedule Isn't Public

"They just wanted to play ball in their park." A District 10 resident said that to the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Board on April 27, 2026. He was describing a father and two children who had come to the board's March meeting about the soccer field at Perry Neighborhood Park. According to the meeting's unedited Swagit transcript, the family had received "conflicting information and sometimes zero information from various park staff." They then had to file a public information request to learn about a contract that, in the speaker's words, "excluded the public from their park."

Perry Park covers 6.6 acres at 4800 Fairview Drive. That puts it inside the strip the Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association counts as its eastern edge, between MoPac and Bull Creek Road from Hancock Road to 45th Street. The park is close to home for a lot of people. The field in the middle of it, though, is covered by a park use agreement between the City and North Austin Soccer Alliance. The agreement's hours are not posted where a neighbor would think to look. The one public effort to change that was withdrawn in April, before its August deadline.

How a city field ends up with a league schedule

The arrangement at Perry Park is part of a citywide system. Austin relies on outside groups to keep its ball fields playable. In a September 2025 Austin Monitor report, Parks Board member Lane Becker explained that the City "had set up a variety of contracts with local organizations – some nonprofits, some for-profit, to maintain those fields in exchange for priority, and in some cases, exclusive access to use those fields." That, he said, "made it more difficult for individuals who weren't part of those organizations to get access to those fields."

Some of those contracts do include public access. Becker told the Monitor that how that access was carried out "and the consistency of it were spotty at best." He also described the contracts as "written in a somewhat loosey-goosey style."

North Austin Soccer Alliance is one of the City's community partners for youth soccer. Its own field list includes Highland Park Elementary, next door at 4900 Fairview Drive, as a practice-only site. That field list does not mention Perry Park. The City's April agenda item, however, names the Perry Park agreement with the league directly.

Why "is the field free right now?" has no easy answer

The City Auditor looked at this problem across Austin before anyone raised it at Perry Park. Its special report on ball and soccer field contracts was issued in March 2025 and republished in April 2025. It was based on contracts the Parks and Recreation Department provided in December 2024. It lists North Austin Soccer Alliance among 26 partner organizations. Its general findings line up closely with the family's experience in March:

The Parks Board responded on September 29, 2025, voting 9-0 to send City Council a recommendation. It called for one public source listing reservation contacts and available hours, an online scheduling and reservation tool, standardized maintenance and access terms in contracts, a minimum level of public availability, revised youth sports agreements, and accountability measures. All of those are goals for future contracts. None of them is a rule that already governs the agreement at Perry Park.

Today, the City's soccer program page offers a field directory and map. The Athletics department describes hourly reservations for events and leagues. Neither page shows when a contracted field like Perry's is held for league use and when it is open to everyone else. North Austin Soccer Alliance's calendar doesn't list Perry Park practice times either.

The April vote that didn't happen

The Perry Park item that reached the board on April 27 was intentionally narrow. Board Members Eubanks and Abou-Emara sponsored a recommendation that City staff hold community engagement about Perry Park before renewing the park use agreement with North Austin Soccer Alliance.

According to the transcript, the sponsor who opened the discussion first credited City staff, saying "staff has been responsive. I think a lot of the questions have been answered." The sponsor then explained the reason for the item. "It's important that we protect some of these fields for just what that says, which is kids that wanna play after school and not be in a conflict with the league," the sponsor said, adding, "This is no criticism of the leagues. I think NASA's a great league." The sponsor also noted that "this land is owned by every taxpayer in this city." The contract in question, according to the same remarks, was "coming up in August."

The approved minutes show that members also discussed how long these agreements run and whether to postpone the item so it could cover every soccer and baseball field. Board Member Villalobos moved to widen the recommendation to "any City of Austin owned soccer and baseball field." That amendment was found out of compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act because the public had been notified only about Perry Park. Board Member Eubanks then withdrew the motion. No recommendation passed.

The board's 2026 meeting schedule since then has no follow-up item. Its listings for May 19, June 22, July 27, August 24 and September 28 show no Perry Park agreement item. The October 26 agenda included a presentation on the MLS GO youth soccer program and recommendations about Literacy First, East Avenue and Pease Park. It did not include Perry Park. The only soccer-related City Council item this summer was an August 27 item accepting a $25,000 MLS GO youth soccer grant. The public record does not show whether the August renewal went through, changed, or was pushed back.

Where neighbors already have a role at Perry Park

The field schedule is hard to see. The rest of the park, by contrast, has long been looked after by a neighborhood group. Friends of Perry Park is the park's support organization and is fiscally sponsored by the Austin Parks Foundation. With a foundation grant, the group added two sculptures to the park: Alas #IV by Betty Gold and Blue Float by Peter Reginato. The project was a partnership with The Contemporary Austin and the Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

The next chance to pitch in is this Saturday, November 7, at the Perry Park Fall Perimeter Clean Up and MulchFest 2026, part of the Austin Parks Foundation's fall It's My Park Day. The foundation's listing shows 9 a.m. to noon. Another calendar view lists the same event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., so check the event page before you head over. A second fall project, Balcones Beautification Fall 2026, is listed for the same morning.

Spreading mulch around the edges of the park won't settle who gets the field at 4 p.m. on a weekday. If the agreement does come back for public discussion, it will go through the Parks and Recreation Board, where the Perry Park question started. That board's published agendas are the place to watch for the next Perry Park item.

If you're near Fairview Drive and want to talk about what the park means for your block, or how changes like this one affect daily life in Highland Park West, I'm glad to help. Lillian Singh follows these neighborhood questions closely, and I'm always happy to compare notes. Let's Connect.