Castletop land was slated for nearly 900 homes. It's becoming a Travis Co. park instead.

Construction wasn’t imminent. But the Topfer brothers, Alan and Richard, weren’t looking to sell the land, either.

In fact, they had all of the entitlements in place to build 895 homes on the 475-acre Castletop tract abutting Milton Reimers Ranch Park in southwestern Travis County, whenever they wanted to start turning dirt.

Then, more than a year ago, they got a call from Jeff Francell with The Nature Conservancy, asking if they would consider selling the site if Travis County voters approved a large parks bond that provided money for land acquisition.

“Jeff was persistent,” Alan Topfer told me this week.

Francell emphasized the benefits of adding onto Reimers Ranch — a popular destination for rock climbers, mountain bikers and anglers enjoying the Pedernales River — as Travis County tries to preserve some of the large natural spaces that are becoming increasingly scarce.

The brothers agreed to sell. The $40 million deal with Travis County Parks closed last month.

“We made a decision to support the community and leave some sites undeveloped, as consideration for all of the benefits that we've realized through the development activity that we've done in Austin over the last 20 years,” said Topfer, whose Castletop Capital provides the backing for MileStone Community Builders.

“We gave up quite a bit of upside profits” by selling the site, Topfer added. “But my family is very active, philanthropically, in town, and so this was another way that we felt we could support the community.”

The quest to preserve land for generations to come is often a race against time.

“We’re always competing with what else a landowner could do,” said Francell, the associate director of land protection for the Nature Conservancy in Texas, which helps Travis County acquire open spaces.

So he uses the tools he has: a persuasive environmental case for preserving the land. And the county's ability to offer cash now to property owners who might otherwise wait years to see the profits from development.

By the time voters approved the $276 million Travis County parks bond last November, Francell was helping negotiate two marquee purchases: the Castletop tract and the nearby 1,506-acre RGK Ranch, which the county is buying this month.

In southwestern Travis County, Francell told me, “These were the two significant properties that we could protect.”

Piecing together the parkland

Castletop offers a natural continuation of what you find in Reimers Ranch: wooded areas, hilltop vistas, a burbling creek. Importantly, Francell said, the tract is at the top of the watersheds for Hamilton Pool, Bee Creek and another sensitive area that runs into the neighboring park.

Not building nearly 900 homes at Castletop “means the water quality going into those water resources is going to remain pristine,” he said.

It also means nearly 900 fewer homes drawing drinking water from that area.

Most noticeably to the public, though, the Castletop acquisition will bring a sizable expansion of the 2,427-acre Reimers Ranch Park. Charles Bergh, the longtime director of Travis County Parks, expects to add trails into the 475-acre Castletop tract in the near future.

He said the county will also craft a master plan to eventually make another area accessible to Reimers Ranch visitors: a roughly 760-acre area sandwiched between the south end of the park and the 232-acre Hamilton Pool Preserve. The county acquired that tract in 2011 from Eugene Reimer (cousin of the park’s namesake), with the understanding that he and his wife (now widow) could live there as long as they like.

In time, all those pieces will make for a nearly 3,900-acre stretch of contiguous parkland, a crown jewel for Travis County Parks.

A place to rejuvenate

Pulling these pieces together is also a culminating achievement for Bergh, who retires next month after three decades as county parks director.

Bergh and Francell have spent years developing relationships with key landowners, hoping that someday those talks could become negotiations. It was around the maps in Bergh’s office that they showed Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard and others the tracts they hoped to acquire, if voters last year agreed to provide the money.

“The timing was right,” said Howard, who became one of the champions of last year’s bond package. “The stars aligned for these projects.”

Between Castletop and RGK Ranch, Travis County has spent all the bond money allocated for the western half of the county. Officials are still scoping out potential acquisitions with the $100 million earmarked for eastern Travis County. Nothing is finalized yet, but there are a few serious contenders.

“There's one property in particular that’s absolutely amazing, if we can get it,” County Judge Andy Brown told me.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that voters approved the 2023 parks bond with the highest level of support the county had ever seen (77%). We just came out of a pandemic in which stressed-out, cooped-up residents turned to parks in droves, fueling renewed appreciation for natural spaces.

Being outdoors “rejuvenates people,” said Bergh, who enjoys hiking and letting his golden retrievers splash around in the Pedernales. “People get rebooted, so to speak, and see what’s valuable in their lives.”

And thanks to the vision of a few and the votes of many, Travis County residents will get more of these places to enjoy.

Grumet is the Statesman’s Metro columnist. Her column, ATX in Context, contains her opinions. Share yours via email at bgrumet@statesman.com or on X at @bgrumet. Find her previous work at statesman.com/opinion/columns.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Reimers Ranch Park to grow with Travis County's purchase of 475 acres