Colleyville officials approve $89K for Texas Tree Trail planting

The Texas Tree Trail will plant additional trees, including crape myrtles, holly, redbuds, willows and mesquites, per city documents. There are also plans to add a patio and benches along the trail.

Colleyville’s Capital Improvement Plan has $125,000 dedicated to this project for Phase 1, which includes adding irrigation and planting 42 large trees and the irrigation is now complete, said Lisa Escobedo, the Colleyville public works and parks and recreation director. The total cost for Phase 1 of the project is $95,000 for both irrigation and planting trees, Assistant City Manager Adrienne Lothery said.

“I’m so proud of this project,” Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Scotty Richardson said. “We talk about trees all the time, and we consciously try to save all the trees we can in Colleyville [though] we can’t save them all. Now, we’re planting a huge amount of trees in a [9]-acre open space and it’s a big deal.”

The background

Escobedo and Beautification Supervisor Joe Flynn first presented the project to council at a work session Oct. 21.

“I wanted to create something that no other city had,” Flynn said Oct. 21. “We looked at it as more of a tree museum or a tree theme park. We wanted to have it be an educational experience for our citizens but still have a park-like atmosphere.”

Looking ahead

Phase 1 of the project is anticipated to begin in the first week of February and take a couple of weeks for all trees to be planted, Escobedo said. Another plan will be brought to council in the spring to plant blooming trees, she said.

The entire project is expected to take three to five years to complete, per city documents.