Georgetown Parks and Recreation has outlined high-priority projects for its five-year capital improvement program, presenting recommendations based on the city’s Parks Master Plan to City Council on June 13.

The overview

The department recommended a list of projects to be considered in the next one to three years, totaling around $64 million in potential costs if city officials decide to pursue them. The projects are expected to be considered as City Council develops a budget and potential bond packages in the coming months.

Terms to know
  • Certificates of obligation, or CO, bonds are bonds voted on by City Council, allowing the city to issue new debt to fund projects without receiving approval from voters.
  • General obligation, or GO, bonds are bonds that require the approval of local voters for the city to fund new projects.
  • Parkland dedication is a requirement imposed by the local government on site plan applications, requiring applicants to dedicate land for park space or make payments for cities to use for park facilities.
The breakdown

The funding for improvements to Georgetown’s parks and recreation facilities is expected to come from either certificate of obligation bonds, general bonds or from parkland dedication funds. In addition to a recommendation the city renovate and expand the existing Georgetown Recreation Center for $43.16 million, other high-priority projects from the parks department include:
  • Trail crossings and lighting: $540,000 in CO or new GO funding
  • Bark Park improvements: $400,000 in CO or new GO funding
  • Heritage Community Gardens improvements: $250,000 in CO or new GO funding
  • Bedford Park improvements: $160,000 in CO or new GO funding
  • McMaster Athletic Complex pickleball court improvements: $350,000 in CO or new GO funding
  • San Gabriel low-water crossing and picnic grove: $1.4 million in CO funding
  • Blue Hole Park master plan design: $30,000 in CO funding
  • Park amenity replacements: $3.21 million in CO funding
  • Village Pool building renovations: $500,000 in CO funding
  • New neighborhood park development: $575,000 in CO and parkland dedication funding
  • Rivery Park parking improvements: $100,000 in parkland dedication funding
  • New Smith Branch Trail South: $4.1 million
  • New Pecan Branch Trail: $5.56 million
  • Phase 1 of regional Berry Creek Trail: $2.9 million
  • Trailheads and access points along regional trails: $1.25 million
Quotes of note
  • “I like all of these improvements,” District 3 Council Member Mike Triggs said. “I think we should slow them down a little bit so we can see where things are going, how much bonds are going to cost. It’s going to go higher; that’s for sure. We can’t expect to get the same rates that we get now.”
  • “Setting priorities of these projects will pave the way staff is guided on when we do these versus when we don’t do them, which ones take priority and which ones don’t,” District 5 Council Member Kevin Pitts said. “Through the budgeting process is where we’ll start cutting. ... The expenditures and the spending and the impacts to the tax rate, that portion of the discussion is not here yet. This is just planning for the long term, whether it be now or even once all of us are off this dais.”