May 31, 20233 min read

Happy Trails to You, Willow Park Trails Master Plan Update

Summary: By this time next year the city will have "something awesome" at Willow Park's Kings Gate Park. The first improvement will be establishing Kings Gate Park as the trail head for new mountain bike trails... it is the ideal spot for a trail head, with the parks, playground, cement trails, and mountain bike trails on the north side of the Clear Fork Trinity River and with The Shops retail, The District restaurants, an amphitheater on the south side. Updated review of Willow Park Master Trail Plan AND implementation.

Latest Update: Friday, 19 May, 2023

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Happy Trails to you, Willow Park Trails Master Plan Update

During the 02 May 2023 Parks Board Meeting, [audio] Willow Park Trails Master Plan consultant Larry Colvin and City Council Member Lea Young reported on the city's updated Trails MasterPlan with emphasis on implementation.

The city is planning to make Kings Gate Park Willow Park's second major city park by assume control of Willow Park North playground, the cement walking trails, and the green space around them, all considered Kings Gate Park. The first improvement will be establishing Kings Gate Park as the trail head for new mountain bike trails. More at Willow Park Civics Blog > Kings Gate Park, WP’s New Ready-made Playground and Trails

Council Lea Young called the Kings Gate Park the ideal spot for a trail head, with the parks, playground, cement trails, and mountain bike trails on the north side of the Clear Fork Trinity River and with The Shops retail, The District restaurants, an amphitheater on the south side. Young foreshadowed that by this time next year the city will have "something awesome" at the Kings Gate Park.

Implementation of the Trails Master Plan includes the following:

The city is working with current and future developers to include trails as part of their development plans.
- Trinity Christian Academy is considering including trails into their new sports fields.
- Wilk's Willow Park North Reserves will continue the cement trails as the Reserves single family houses develop westward toward Crown Road.
- New developers will be incentivized to include green space and trails into their development designs. The city has established a new development parkland dedication fee that will be charged if a developer chooses not to include green space and trails.
  - Willow Park Development Service Fees, Ordinance No. 859-22 Adopted 4/12/2022
  - Willow Park Parks and Trails Master Plan, October 2019, page 36
- The city is talking with large-acre landowners in Willow Park and the Willow Park ETJ to include mountain bike trails along utility easement rights of way.
As part of the city's Street Improvement Plan, the reconstruction of Crown Road and Kings Gate Road will include 3' extensions on both sides of the roads as connectors for the trails

Colvin and the Parks Board will continue work on the Willow Park Trails Master Plan to include the following:

Narrative explaining the plan/map
Glossary of terms
Priority list of trail / parks project.
A revisit of the community survey that drove the October 2019 Willow Park Parks and Trails Master Plan; Young mentioned that in this 2019 plan trails were an after thought.
Consideration of funds for parks and trails in future city debt obligations.

Note: Not only is Larry Colvin the Willow Park Master Trails Plan consultant, he is also the President of Weatherford Mountain Bike Club and a Senior Civil Engineer Designer for Baird, Hampton & Brown.