Our CO-Founder

Carol Lee (1955 - 2018)

For many years until she passed away in September 2018, Carol worked tirelessly to promote safe and environmentally responsible land development in our 2222 Hill Country corridor. She volunteered countless hours for various civic organizations and in the early 2000s, joined her dear friend Marceline Lasater in co-founding the Lake Austin Collective.
One of her greatest and final gifts to our community, however, may be the efforts she undertook to ensure almost 34 acres of Solera Reserve's undeveloped land be turned into a wildlife preserve. Shortly after Carol's passing, local entrepreneur and area neighbor Jonathan Coon generously donated this land to the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve (BCP), a program within Austin Water's Wildland Conservation Division, which oversees a vast land portfolio of more than 13,600 acres.

In honor of Carol's resolute spirit, the preserve bears her name and is undergoing restoration so that the land will serve as an ideal habitat for federally protected and endangered species, including the golden-cheeked warbler.

In October 2020, Austin Water Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Program notified the Lake Austin Collective it had officially adopted the Carol Lee Preserve. The preserve is not a public park but a nature preserve with guided hikes and volunteer opportunities that can be found at www.austintexas.gov/wildlandevents.

If you would like more information on the BCP, please email BCP Program Manager Nico Hauwert at nico.hauwert@austintexas.gov

CAROL LEE (1955 - 2018). Carol Lee Memory Garden ribbon cutting tentatively scheduled for fall 2022.

A Voice For Our Community

Lake Austin Collective is a Texas 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that advocates for and empowers Lake Austin area neighbors, and works to protect our beautiful and irreplaceable Hill Country.

But times have changed. While we still believe engaging and educating our neighbors is critical, we now realize those are only first steps.

We not only advocate for neighborhood protections, we teach neighbors how to defend their own rights in front of governmental agencies, influential policy makers, and land developers. We work hard to help neighbors decipher the city's sometimes opaque legal language and zoning laws, to solve complex problems, and to fight for better and more transparent outcomes.

With the power of our collective community, we believe we have all contributed to making our beloved Austin Hill Country a better and safer place to live. Won't you join us?

Find out more

LAC Directors

Linda Bailey, President

For the past five years, Linda has served on the boards and executive committees of numerous civic organizations, including the Austin Neighborhoods Council, Glenlake Neighborhood Association, 2222 Coalition of Neighborhoods Association, and other local advocacy groups. Linda is deeply committed to neighborhood safety and preserving the Hill Country’s unique character. She has been a resident of the Glenlake neighborhood for more than 20 years and a resident of Austin for more than 40 years. Her professional career spanned years with IBM, the UT McCombs School of Business and as part-owner of American Almond in Brooklyn, NY.

Our CO-Founder

Carol Lee (1955 - 2018)

A Voice For Our Community

area represented by lake Austin Collective

LAC Directors