While the projects are different in scope, they are both part of the city’s effort to expand access to park and athletic facilities, said Jeff Achee, Pflugerville Parks and Recreation Department assistant director.
The parks are the result of community planning, with residents frequently requesting additional facilities.
“People are excited to see new fields, expanded parking and additional spaces for families to come together,” said outgoing Mayor Victor Gonzales, who served the city while many of Pflugerville’s latest park projects were in planning.
Kelly Lane Park
The neighborhood park located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Kelly Lane and Falcon Pointe Boulevard will have pickleball courts, a new playground and trail connections.
Achee said the park’s primary purpose is meant to bring more recreation options to underserved areas. The pickleball court will be the first public facility in the city.
“We know that there’s a huge demand [for pickleball],” Place 4 City Council member Rudy Metayer said. “This also happens to be over at our local road that we just expanded and finished over there as well. So it’s easy access for the community at large.”
The total construction cost for the park is estimated at $2.1 million, city staff shared in August, and is funded through city bonds.
How it works
In the five years since residents passed $42.3 million in bond funds to support parks and recreation projects, Achee said residents have been excitedly waiting for new parks. Phase 2 of Lake Pflugerville Park, at a cost of $10.6 million; and a destination play space, at a cost of $6.8 million, are also under design.
“We are not sitting on any projects,” he said. “They’re all moving, and they’re on track to be finished within the next couple years.”
The framework
Achee said a few aspects are at the forefront of planning future park projects.
No new projects will be planned without some inclusion of trails, with the goal of tying into the city’s existing trail system. Future project planning will include more trails, with the city’s official designation as the Trail Capital of Texas, which Gov. Greg Abbott awarded the city in May.
“We’ve got 60 miles of trails, but because Pflugerville’s grown so quickly, we’ve got a lot of trail gaps,” he said. “We’re hitting that really hard over the next five years to try to make sure that our trail system is as connected as it can be.”
The city is working on a project to improve wayfinding along its trail system, he said, to give residents better directions when on foot or riding their bikes.
“Even in the older parts of town, we’ve got trails that are running through those, but there’s not a lot of signage,” Achee said. “People can get lost or not really understand what they’re connected to.”
1849 Park Phase 2
Most Pflugerville residents—particularly those with children in local sports programs—might be familiar with the current iteration of 1849 Park. The first phase of the park focused on soccer fields, occupying a small portion of the 300 acres set aside by the city for future expansion.
The second phase, which opens in early 2026, will provide the community with its first city-owned baseball and softball facilities.
Achee said city staff are already planning the third phase of the park, which will include more amenities and trails.
Once funding is secured for this expansion, the city will start on its design. Until then, the park will feature mostly athletic facilities.
Assessing the need
Despite the expansion of sports facilities at 1849 Park, the city will still be under-resourced for athletic fields once it’s completed, Achee said.
City parks draw over 250,000 users each year, he said, and future facilities at 1849 Park are expected to be fully booked by youth sports leagues.
To gauge how the city might close the gap between what exists and what residents want, Achee said a feasibility study will be conducted over the next year.
“We continually hear that residents are eager for more places to play, gather and enjoy outdoor activities, and the improvements at 1849 Park directly reflect that,” Gonzales said.
Stay tuned
The second phase of 1849 Park and Kelly Lane Park will open to the public in the first quarter of 2026, Achee said.
1849 Park will reach substantial completion in January, he said, but needs time for newly laid sod grass to take root.
Beyond these parks, city staff are getting to work on more pieces of the bond package approved by voters in 2020. This includes the second phase of Lake Pflugerville Park, as staff will soon begin designing it.
“These are big projects,” Achee said. “They’re really community-shaping projects in Pflugerville.”
A timeline of the city’s projects looks like this:
- March 2026: 1849 Park Phase 2 to open
- Spring 2026: Kelly Lane Park to open
- 2027: New recreation center to open
- Sept. 2027: Lake Pflugerville Park Phase 2 construction begins
- June 2028: Destination Play Space Phase I construction begins
- Sept. 2028: Lake Pflugerville Park Phase 2 construction completed
