The park
At the end of Chitina Court, where Breakaway Park meets Silverado Ranch, there are 7.38 acres of live oak and cedar, a pond that swells to several acres after rain, and a well-worn trail that residents of both neighborhoods use to walk between them. Deer bed down in the prickly pear. Kids hunt eggs there in the spring and paint rocks for the trail. Families have canoed on the pond for decades. Neighbors maintain the trail themselves.
No County money bought it and no County money maintains it. When the subdivision was platted in 1991, the Commissioners Court asked that maintenance responsibility be placed on the subdivision, not the County — and the plat says so.
How it became a park
In 1990 this land was inside the City of Austin’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. Austin’s parkland dedication ordinance required new subdivisions to set aside land for parks as a condition of approval. Austin’s reviewer calculated the requirement for Breakaway Park Section 3 — 0.35 acres for 25 homes — and identified the 7.38-acre tract the developer had offered as the land that would satisfy it. He wrote that the final plat “will not be approved” until the developer delivered a recorded deed to Williamson County, a letter of acceptance from the County, and proof of clear title. Austin’s review records
The developer, Carolville, Ltd., signed the deed on October 30, 1990. It conveys the land “exclusively for parks and recreational purposes for public use by the citizens of Williamson County,” and adds that “by acceptance of this conveyance, Williamson County hereby dedicates the herein described property for park and recreational purposes.” The deed
On November 19, 1990, the Commissioners Court voted 4–1 to accept the deed. County Judge Don Wilson signed a separate instrument titled “Park Land Acceptance.” Both were recorded the next day. The vote
In January 1991, Commissioner Mike Heiligenstein wrote to the City of Austin to confirm that “Williamson County has received and accepted a deed from Carolville, Ltd. for 7.38 acres of land … to be used as park land.” Austin approved the plat the next month. The plat labels the tract “7.38 AC PARK / WILLIAMSON COUNTY,” and its notes state that “Williamson County, Texas is the owner of this approved parkland tract.” Two later plats, in 1994 and 1995, say the same thing. The plat
What the County did
Between September 2018 and January 2019, “possible sale of County-owned 7.38 acres in Breakaway Park Subdivision” appeared as a closed-session item at thirteen consecutive Commissioners Court meetings. No action was taken in public. In May 2019 an engineering exhibit in the County’s file divided the park into three lots. The 2019 exhibit
In June 2025 the Court met three times in closed session about “legal matters relating to a 7.42-acre tract” in Breakaway Park. Over the following months, and without any public vote, the County hired a broker on a 4.5% commission, ordered a title commitment, compiled residential land comps, obtained and recorded a release of a 1959 drainage easement, and had a second three-lot layout drawn. In December and January the developer exchanged redlines of a sale agreement with the County. The timeline
The developer signed on February 13, 2026. On February 24, the Commissioners Court approved, in a batch vote, “a development agreement … regarding the sale of certain property owned by the County.” The agenda gave no address, no parcel number, no acreage, and attached no agreement. Another development agreement on the same agenda, Item 56, had the full contract attached. On the meeting video, a commissioner thanked the broker by name, described the property as “a small piece of land that is currently unused,” and said proceeds would hopefully go to the Parks Fund. None of that appears in the written record. Item 71: what the public saw · The video
On April 17, survey crews appeared on the park. On April 21, Commissioner Cynthia Long emailed the broker a draft letter. On April 25, the broker hand-delivered it to homes near the park. It said the County “never accepted” the land as parkland, had authorized its sale, and planned three residential lots. That letter was the first notice anyone in the neighborhood received. The letter · The emails
On September 3, 2026, County Judge Steven Snell signed an amendment removing the agreement’s $4-per-square-foot minimum price. The County is still pursuing the sale. The amendment
From three lots to one. The 2019 and 2025 engineering exhibits, the surveyor’s March 2026 work order, and the April letter all describe three lots. The agreement itself requires only “one or more” single-family lots, “with septic (if necessary) and water well service.” The County’s own floodplain exhibit places four of the tract’s 7.4 acres in the 100-year floodplain, and in October 2025 the Commissioner wrote to the broker that “septic and well will have to be up closer to the front of the property.” By September 2026 the broker’s sign offered the whole tract as a single 7.38-acre lot. The reason for the change is not stated in the public record. The floodplain exhibit · The emails
What the County says, and what its records say
The Development Agreement’s third recital states that the property “was never formally accepted or designated as parkland by proper official action of the Williamson County Commissioners Court, and/or … has never been used or maintained as a park or recreation area by the citizens of the County.”
“Williamson County … does accept the grant of park land as hereinabove described.” — Park Land Acceptance signed by County Judge Don Wilson, recorded at Vol. 1960, P. 444
“Motion: To accept the Warranty deed from Carrollville Ltd. and authorize it to be filed … Vote: Motion carried 4–1.” — Commissioners Court minutes, November 19, 1990
“Williamson County has received and accepted a deed from Carolville, Ltd. for 7.38 acres of land … to be used as park land.” — Commissioner Mike Heiligenstein to the City of Austin, January 11, 1991
“Williamson County, Texas is the owner of this approved parkland tract.” — Breakaway Park Section 3 plat, 1991; repeated on the Section 2A and 1A plats
The same agreement cites the deed at “Vol. 1960 Page 449.” The deed is recorded at Page 440. The title commitment the County ordered in July 2025 lists the deed restrictions and the plat’s ownership note as exceptions to coverage — the title company saw them. The title commitment
The agreement’s answer to the deed restriction is Exhibit B: a release to be signed by Carolville, the 1990 grantor, declaring the park restrictions “fully released, abandoned, terminated, and forever discharged.” Carolville’s general partner today is Silcar, L.L.C., managed by Henk Morelisse — the same person who signed the agreement as president of the developer, Skalmor, Inc. Corporate records
Why it matters beyond one street
The County’s own exhibit places about four of the 7.38 acres in the floodplain, with 1.2 acres of pond. The tract drains to a tributary of Brushy Creek. Building on it affects the homes below it.
More than that: if a recorded deed, a signed acceptance, a Commissioners Court vote, and three plats are not enough to make a park a park, then no dedicated parkland in Williamson County is safe from a “certain property” agenda item. And if an agreement to sell public parkland can be negotiated for eight months, signed by the developer, and approved without the public ever being told what land it covered, then the notice requirements that are supposed to let citizens participate in their government did not work.
What we are asking for
- Cancel the Development Agreement with Skalmor, Inc.
- Acknowledge, on the record, the County’s 1990 acceptance and dedication of the tract as parkland.
- Release the records that were withheld or never searched for, so the public can see how this decision was made.
- Work with the neighborhood on a permanent arrangement — a conservation easement, a transfer to a park district or land trust, or simply leaving the park alone — so this never has to be fought again.
If you are considering buying any part of this land, please read the notice to prospective buyers, which collects the recorded instruments, statutes, and court decisions that bear on the title.
We are neighbors, not lawyers. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and nothing here has been decided by a court. We have tried to state only what the documents show and to link to every one of them so you can read them yourself.