Boats banned from nude beach

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Travis County parks officials have banned boats from entering the eastern cove of the clothing optional Hippie Hollow Park on Lake Travis.

The decision to move the buoys pushing boats away from the shore is a safety issue, according to parks spokesperson Dan Perry.

Since the nineties the number of boats and size of boats entering the cove has increased, creating an unsafe situation for swimmers, the parks department says.

The new rule has ruffled the feathers of boaters who enjoy using the park and have taken to social media in protest.

The parks department will hold a public forum about the changes on Feb. 27.

Even before the change Perry said they received lots of calls from both swimmers and boaters about the park. Swimmers were nervous about the number of boats near the shore, while boaters have enjoyed the relatively quiet cove.  

A secondary reason for changing the boat line is access to the park’s shores. Since the park is clothing optional, visitors must be 18 or over to enter. By moving the buoys back, it creates a boundary line for the park.

Perry said that the repositioning of the buoys for the swim area resets them to the original configuration of the park approved by the Lower Colorado River Authority in the 1970's.

In the 1990's, as the Comanche Trail neighborhood began to develop, the park moved the boating area because boat propellers were chewing up the water lines for the neighborhood. At the time houses in the development drew their water from the lake, Perry said, but now they get city water.

At that time, the boating traffic was not much of an issue because there were only a few recreational boats using the cove, but as Austin has grown, so have the number of boats on the lake.

Since there has been a lot of interest in the parks’ decision to move boats away from the shore, they will host a public meeting on the issue on Wednesday, February 27 from 6 P.M. to 7 P.M. at the Travis County West Service Center . 4501 Highway 620 North .

Hippie Hollow park has a daily use entrance fee of $12 per car. Pedestrians or bicyclist can enter the park for $5. The cost for seniors and Veterans is $2.