Steve Bosak, parks and recreation director for the city of Leander, has worked in the parks and recreation industry since 1977. Bosak graduated from the University of Michigan, where he studied outdoor recreation and natural resource administration. Bosak has worked for Texas Parks & Wildlife as well as parks and recreation departments in Beaverton, Oregon, and Arlington, Texas, and came into his position with the city in June 2006. Bosak has been part of many Leander parks projects, including the Phase 1 development of Benbrook Ranch Park. On Feb. 27 a grand opening ceremony was hosted at Benbrook for the first baseball fields in Leander, which are home to three new divisions of Little League Baseball teams.
What are some city projects you are most proud of?
We built Benbrook Ranch Park [in] two phases. [The] initial phase had the playground, the skate park and an open-space field, trails, [a] pavilion, restrooms and parking—and we just completed the baseball complex, which is the first of its kind in Leander. We’ve never had any athletic field dedicated to one sport, and that’s been pretty big.
We [have] built a lot of trail[s] and sidewalk[s]. When I first got here we didn’t have sidewalks, but … they’re really important because they give pedestrians [and bikers] places to go. … They are really important to the liveability of the community. Ten years ago we didn’t have sidewalks, so we are really putting an emphasis on that and requiring it from developments—both residential and nonresidential. So that’s been pretty big—bringing our trails system along. It’s got miles to go. … But it’s taken great strides in the last few years.
