AUSTIN, Texas — In the ‘60s, the Holly Street Power Plant stood tall. For nearly 30 years, the residents of East Austin pushed for the removal of the plant, citing safety and environmental concerns. After the plant was decommissioned, city and community leaders came together to discuss how to use the space. It was later determined that it would be used as a green space for the local community. It’s now the Festival Beach Food Forest (FBFF).

Over 100 volunteers have spent the last year planting more than 90 trees and shrubs in this specific area, including several plants specifically chosen to complement a 40-year-old mountain laurel in the space that will be killed because of the Interstate 35 expansion project.

Stake flags are in the soil and orange lines are dotted at the food forest. They’re all signs of a new trench installation. It’s a small part of the I-35 expansion project. FBFF volunteers Angelina Alanis and Aly Tharp said the I-35 expansion was no secret to anyone living in Texas.

“Since I’ve been alive, they’ve been talking about expanding I-35,” said Alanis. 

Volunteers met with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) quarterly to understand the impact to the FBFF. 

“They’ve told us that we should be worried about noise and dust and limited parking,” said Alanis. 

In 2024, at a city meeting, city employees said the FBFF would not be impacted by construction. Moving forward to 2025, the City Council approved the wastewater pipe to be installed below the FBFF. Advocates said no mention of the pipe was brought up to volunteers until January 2026. 

“The fact that they haven’t changed the timeline beyond saying you’ve got now two weeks left before they’re going to trenched through this area when we’re still waiting to sit down and talk to anyone from Austin Water and TXDOT directly about this,” said Tharp. 

According to volunteers, the FBFF team is requesting an immediate pause to allow for a permaculture-based approach to this utility project and the affected area.

Spectrum News reached out to TxDOT about community concerns. A spokesperson sent us the following statement: 

“The work near the Food Forest and Community Garden is an Austin Water wastewater line on city-owned property. TxDOT will perform the work on behalf of the city as part of the I-35 Capital Express Central Lady Bird Lake segment, which got underway in early 2025. TxDOT coordinated with the City of Austin during both the planning and design phases. As standard practice, when details of upcoming construction activities are confirmed, TxDOT provides updates to nearby stakeholders to keep them informed.” 

We also reached out to the City of Austin. It said its Parks and Recreation Department would be in contact with us. Austin Water sent us the following joint statement with Parks and Recreation: 

“While Austin Water was made aware that the TxDOT I-35 expansion project would affect some existing Austin Water infrastructure, like the need to temporarily relocate one of our wastewater lines near Lady Bird Lake, we did not learn of the impact to the Festival Beach Food Forest until January 2026 during the Water and Wastewater Commission meeting, when representatives of the organization spoke during public communications. We appreciate the Food Forest staff raising awareness to the impacts, so we can collaborate on solutions to preserve their important work in the community. Austin Water is working with TxDOT, Austin’s Parks and Recreation and Capital Delivery Services departments to engage with the Food Forest volunteers to determine the full scope of the project impact. Austin Water, alongside our city partners, will do what we can to help mitigate impact and restore the site to existing conditions after construction is completed.”

“Everyone’s kind of pointing fingers at the other person instead of really taking accountability,” said Tharp. 

TxDOT said it has no plans to pause or delay the project.