City officials discussed the plans for the park at a June 1 public meeting.
The city of Pflugerville is working on a master plan for its new park and sports complex.[/caption]The first stage will focus on sports fields to host youth sports competitions, which was the park’s original intent when city officials put $11 million on the November 2014 bond package for such a project.
“We were [originally] just looking for 100 acres to be a youth sports complex because that was the immediate need,” said Pflugerville Parks and Recreations Department Director James Hemenes. “We found this piece of property, we looked at it and we realized it’s going to be so much more than sports. [...] This will be our crown jewel when it’s done.”
Hemenes said the park, when finished, will be a community park featuring many aspects outside of sports such as trails, a dog park, green spaces that can host festivals and even a natural area for camping or archery.
“We want to meet the needs of all of our residents not just the kids playing soccer,” he said. “This park can be a little bit of everything for everybody.”
The first phase will focus on the sports fields for soccer, football and possibly lacrosses as well as basic infrastructure such as parking lots, restrooms and water lines.
Hemenes said if the park broke ground in the fall construction could take about a year and the fields would need time to grow in the grass. He said a conservative estimate is to have playable fields in the spring of 2018.
For the whole park to be complete, Hemenes said, could take decades.
“It all depends on the funding,” he said. “If in five years the voters have the will and desire to build out the rest and they want to pay out whatever it is, we could build it in five years. It all depends on what folks are willing to pay for.”
