Building a huge outdoor concert amphitheater right next to a wildlife preserve would be insane. And using the wildlife preserve to sell multimillion–dollar luxury condos would be obscene. But unfortunately, this is exactly what the developers of the White Rocks resort want to do. They plan to build a 10,000-seat amphitheater, plus a luxury hotel and condos, on a property west of Austin that’s bordered on three sides by the Barton Springs Habitat Preserve, which is home to the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler. The developers have applied for water service from the City of Austin and for an onsite wastewater permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). They’ve said that they’ll start construction early next year.
The White Rocks resort will be located south of Bee Cave and north of Oak Hill on State Highway 71 near Southwest Parkway. White Rocks is bordered on three sides by the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve, which encompasses more than 4,000 acres. The Preserve is the second-largest undeveloped area along Barton Creek after the Shield Ranch.
Save Texas Streams, under our previous name as Save Barton Creek Association, strongly supported the creation of the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve in 1994. The Nature Conservancy owns and manages the 4,000-acre Preserve, which is located 16 miles upstream from Barton Springs. The Preserve provides shelter for the many wildlife and aquatic life species that call this area home. The most important is the Golden-cheeked Warbler, which is listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered species. The Warbler only breeds in Central Texas, where it uses the bark of the Ashe juniper (aka the Texas cedar tree) to build its nests. Under The Nature Conservancy’s stewardship, the Preserve has fulfilled its primary purpose for more than three decades. (You can read more in this Austin American-Statesman article.)
But the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve was not created to help real estate developers sell multimillion-dollar condos and stage massive outdoor music concerts. Unfortunately, that’s the plan for White Rocks from local developer Chris Milam and his corporate partner, UMusic Hotels. Their project would be built on a 71-acre property located on State Highway 71 near Southwest Parkway. The property is also located on top of Dittmar Hill, the highest elevation west of Austin, and less than a mile above Barton Creek. In addition to a 10,000-seat outdoor music amphitheater, the developers intend to build a 150-room luxury hotel and 650 luxury condos. Their name for the condo complex? The Preserve.
This project rendering on the White Rocks website accurately shows how the resort will be surrounded by thousands of acres of undeveloped forest in the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve. The noise and light pollution from White Rocks — especially from music concerts at the outdoor amphitheater — will have a harmful effect on all wildlife in the Preserve.
This is Milam’s second attempt at launching his project, which he previously called the Violet Crown Amphitheater. Austin officials rejected Milam’s Service Extension Request to connect his development to the city’s water and wastewater lines in 2022. Milam then changed the name of his proposed resort to White Rocks, but he’s still using the same site plan. His biggest accomplishment has been to bring on a big corporate partner with really deep pockets — UMusic Hotels is backed by Universal Music Group, the biggest music company in the world with $14.4 billion in revenue last year.
The White Rocks team filed a new Service Extension Request with Austin last fall, this time for water only. Austin officials issued a draft SER for White Rocks in March. The developers also applied to TCEQ for a TLAP wastewater permit, which would allow them to build an onsite facility to treat the sewage produced by White Rocks and irrigate it onto the resort's grounds. TCEQ issued a draft wastewater permit last year, which was the subject of a contentious public meeting. Several adjacent landowners asked TCEQ to hold a contested case hearing on the White Rocks permit. TCEQ’s commissioners approved the hearing request last month and granted standing to The Nature Conservancy, SOS Alliance, and several local landowners. A judge with the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) will conduct the hearing later this year.
Save Texas Streams and our partners will continue to oppose White Rocks. We’ll have more information about what you can do in our upcoming newsletters.
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