Summary: Discussion of Cross Timbers Park, Discussion of Trail System proposals
Time, Location: Parks Board Meeting, 03 May, 2022, 6P, Municipal Complex, 516 Ranch House Rd, Willow Park, TX 76087
Latest Update: Friday, 29 July, 2022
Tags: #Parks
Agenda Items
2. Discussion regarding Phase II improvements at Cross Timbers Park
Minutes: City Staff member Toni Fisher informed the Board that the benches, picnic tables, canopies, and trash cans have been ordered, as per the order receipt in the packet. By ordering directly from the playground equipment company, the City saved $120,000 of the original proposed amount by Pacheco Koch. She stated that there is not yet an ETA for the equipment.
Fisher also stated that the park sign, as shown in the packet, has been ordered, and pricing for adding base flood lighting will also be included. The total cost for both is expected to be about $16,000. Ex-Officio Member Lea Young added that the size of the sign is proportionate to the park and much less expensive than the $35,000 originally proposed. Fisher stated that there would also be a flower bed at its base with sprinklers, not included in that cost, but not expected to be a large expense.
3. Discussion regarding update on Gabby Shultz's Cross Timbers Park project
Minutes: Fisher informed the Board that Aledo High School student and FFA officer, Gabby Shultz, had a fundraiser at Cross Timbers Park on the Saturday before Easter with an Easter Egg Hunt and snow cones made by AHS students. As of April 23, 2022, Ms. Shultz said she has raised $1,491 and admitted that it has been a challenge. Board member Cynthia White said that Ms. Shultz's funds have been enough to help with the Demonstration Garden and the QR code plaques that she wanted to have made. White said that there might be a small remainder of funds which Shultz may be able to contribute toward a picnic table. Fisher informed the Board that Ms. Shultz will be presenting her project to the City Council on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
4. Discussion regarding proposed future improvements at Cross Timbers Park
Minutes: Fisher stated that the next phase of Cross Timbers Park improvements are being considered. They could include the addition of sidewalks from the east side of Ranch House Rd's Balint Memorial Park beside City Hall, across the culvert, street crossing to Cross Timbers Park, and a pavilion. She stated that she has applied for a federal funding grant through the state, which requested $517,000. With only about ten days' notice of this grant, the total comprised of a quick estimate of costs by our City Engineer for sidewalks, which includes culvert crossing on the east side of Ranch House Rd, two hawk lights, and a pavilion, a 30% contingency, and 9% earmark request fee. Fisher stated that the funds' release is January 2023.
Fisher stated that the City Engineer, in his brief overview and assessment for project pricing, recommended that there be a four-way stop at the intersection of Ranch House Rd and Stagecoach Trail. Board Member David Wagner stated that he would prefer Hawk signals or just a yield sign instead of a stop sign. Board Member Ever Gomez recommended having a traffic study done to determine what would work best for traffic and the pedestrian right-of-way. Ex-Officio Member Lea Young stated that a safe crossing solution should be determined before the sidewalk. To Gomez's comment, Young stated that our City Engineer is a consultant of the City's already, and they can help with what we need. Chairman Corey Tucker suggested that instead of the concrete sidewalks crossing the street to connect the two parks that perhaps a concrete trail can extend around the Public Safety Building to create a walking trail there versus extending one between the two parks.
5. Discussion regarding update on Trails System proposals
Minutes: Lea Young, Ex-Officio board member, advised the Board that she and staff member Toni Fisher attended Trail Labs in Bentonville, Arkansas. She explained that they learned that one of our first orders of business for the trails should likely be to update the Trails portion of the Parks & Trails Master Plan and incorporate ideas with regard to the Willow Park Trail System as an addendum, including future developments within the ETJ; the purpose of doing so in these areas is that once those areas are proposed to be developed, our intentions for trail easements are clear at inception. Young also suggested that the City contract with Baird, Hampton, and Brown to create this addendum. BHB is the engineering firm with whom Larry Colvin of the Weatherford Mountain Bike Club is a designer. Colvin has been monumental in the design and creation of the Parks of Aledo Trail System in Aledo and the Quannah Hill Trail in Weatherford, and has provided us our current trail proposals at no charge.
Young stated that the City and Colvin have spoken to Kyle Wilkes of Wilkes Development with regard to the trails along the Wilkes' creek property, and that Mr. Wilkes was favorable to the idea. She also stated that others with whom the City has spoken have also been agreeable to the idea.
Young expressed that the goal would be to connect concrete with dirt trails, like Fort Worth's Trinity Trail, to be accomplished in stages, ideally through grants, beginning with multi-use dirt trails first and, as funds allow, concreting a concrete greenway beside them. If this idea could be shared with surrounding cities to connect trails, it could become a regional plan and attraction, which Colvin has preliminarily coined "EPCoT" (East Parker County Trails). Board member Wagner stated that the trails might involve fundraising or other foundations for funding. In discussions about connectivity under IH-20 overpass (which would come out to Kings Gate), Wagner contributed that he has also been communicating with Colvin, and they believe that TXDOT would cooperate with permission to do so, especially if they were the piece holding up connectivity of the trail. Young and Fisher will continue to work on this project, and update the Board as to its progress.
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