‘This was my safe haven’ | Austin Archery Club faces loss of parkland with 50-year city partnership set to end

In late January, club officials reported receiving a termination notice from the Parks and Recreation Department, citing the city’s right to end the agreement.

AUSTIN, Texas — A longtime archery club in northwest Austin may soon be forced to leave the city‑owned parkland it has managed for decades.

The Austin Archery Club, which has operated on the site for more than 50 years, was notified in late January that its use agreement with the City of Austin is set to be terminated.

The club has maintained roughly 60 acres of land under a 2018 agreement with the Parks and Recreation Department. In a letter sent earlier this year, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department informed club leaders that the city would be terminating the agreement, citing its ability to terminate the arrangement “without cause.”

The club was later given an April 1 deadline to notify its members and remove its property from the park.

For many members, the decision represents more than the loss of a practice space. Naila Juarez, who has been part of the club for six years, described the range as a personal refuge.

“I came out here and I knew this was where I wanted to be every day. This was my quiet. This was my safe haven,” Juarez, who’s a member of the Austin Archery Club, said. “This is my savings grace. And I don’t know what I’m going to do without it. That’s very unfortunate.”

The club serves more than 500 members and is one of the few outdoor archery facilities in the region. Leaders said the loss of the property would leave members with limited options.

Clint Miller, a member of the club’s board of directors, said the city’s decision came without prior discussion.

“We have our perspective, and I believe that we’ve communicated as effectively as we possibly could,” Miller said. “We’re volunteers. It doesn’t mean that we’re not professionals. We all have full time jobs doing something else, but we would hope that the full time employees with the City of Austin would reciprocate that communication.”

Miller said they have been responsible stewards of the land and hope the city will reconsider.

“We really aren’t a problem. In 50 years, there’s never been any recorded negative incident on this property,” Miller said. “So quite honestly, this is something that should be studied. It should be published, it should be awarded. Instead, it’s being discarded.”

KVUE reached out to the City of Austin about the concerns raised by the club’s members. A city spokesperson said a memo with more information will be released soon.