MLS stadium search bogs down

Public opposition to using preferred parkland sites puts off selection process until late spring at earliest.

More than 3½ months after Columbus Crew SC ownership publicly cast its eyes on Austin for 2019, the potential move seems as far away as ever. What has followed is a series of stops and starts and a general lack of clarity.

The only folks celebrating so far are neighborhood groups and activists working to strike parkland from the list of potential Major League Soccer stadium sites. They were successful in derailing Precourt Sports Venture’s dream site, Butler Shores Metropolitan Park, before the debate even began.

On Saturday, the Save Our Parkland forces are rallying at Roy G. Guerrero Metropolitan Park, another desirable site identified by city staff Dec. 12, to remove it from the dwindling list of options. A group called Friends of Austin Parkland has started a petition to eliminate Guerrero.

A city memorandum Friday requested a postponement of the soccer agenda item at the Feb. 15 council meeting and delayed a full vetting of any stadium site for an additional three months. That extends the process into late spring/early summer.

“Upon consensus between the suggested city of Austin properties and the Precourt Sports Ventures property analysis, city staff will commence with a robust community engagement,” Kimberly McNeeley, acting director of Austin Parks and Recreation, wrote in a memo.

“It will be at that time city staff can select an appropriate council date. A robust community engagement is estimated to take approximately three months.”

Basically, Precourt Sports Ventures needs more time to analyze its favorite sites, and city staff can’t begin its more exhaustive research until PSV declares its preferred destination.

Three delays have followed since Nov. 9, when the City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking staff to produce a list of possible stadium and training facility options.

PSV put out a statement later Friday saying it anticipated the latest delay once Council Member Ann Kitchen pulled her resolution last week that would ban all parkland.

“The contents of the memo are consistent with the recent planning