AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin extended its ban on watercraft, and lakefront businesses say it’s affecting their margins.
The ban was set in place on Friday, July 17, due to floodgate activity at several dams on the river following last week’s floods.
It was originally scheduled to be lifted on Tuesday, but city and water officials extended the ban through Thursday, July 23 at 5 p.m.
“The 48-hour extension is necessary because higher and faster flows are expected to continue on the water for several days,” the City of Austin wrote.
Several waterfront businesses that rent out various watercraft have been forced to close temporarily.
Several watercraft rental businesses in Austin are temporarily closed due to a watercraft ban in effect until 5 p.m. Thursday, June 23. (Photo: CBS Austin/Audrey Wong)
Connor Champagne, Chief of Texas Operations at Lone Star Kayak Tours, says the hit to revenue is already apparent.
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“A weekend, generally, for a business like us is going to be a good 50% of our revenue for that particular week,” he said. “It’s usually like a $10,000 hit for us. And I imagine for larger businesses like Rowing Dock or Live Love Paddle who have bigger operations, they’re probably seeing an even bigger hit to their margins.”
Casey Vick, the owner of Live Love Paddle, put it plainly: “It’s killing us… it’s killed our business. July is the busiest time of year,” he said.
Several watercraft rental businesses in Austin are temporarily closed due to a watercraft ban in effect until 5 p.m. Thursday, June 23. (Photo: CBS Austin/Audrey Wong)
This is the second year in a row that a watercraft ban has been implemented due to flooding. Last year’s ban was prompted by the Fourth of July floods that ravaged much of Central Texas.
“Safety is always first, of course,” Vick said. “But in my opinion, [it] seems like they use an overabundance of caution, and maybe they need to consider the businesses on the lake a little more often than they do.”
If the ban lifts tomorrow as intended, Champagne says his tour guides will waste no time getting back on the water.
“We’re going to be open like 5 p.m. on Thursday. Like we’re going to be doing rentals for the last couple hours that we can,” he said. “And then we’re going to be rolling into—we do like a tour at 8 p.m. So we’re just going to go hard into operating.”