Current situation
During League City City Council’s meeting June 13, Blake Coleman of TBG Partners, the consultant the city hired to design the park, shared an update.
The expected alignment for the Grand Parkway that will eventually bisect the park has shifted about 50 feet south, so the park’s design has been updated to reflect that change, Coleman said.
Additionally, officials from Phillips 66, the owner of a pipeline in the future park’s boundaries, have asked League City to bear the cost of updating the pipe’s coding. They also said they want to relocate one of the pipeline’s valves within the park’s boundaries but did not indicate who they expect to pay for that or the cost, Coleman said.
The park itself is expected to feature:
- Two soccer fields
- Six tennis/pickleball courts
- Four baseball fields with a concession stand
- Five softball fields with a concession stand
- Nearly 896 parking spaces spread out across the park
- A maintenance building
City officials are applying for a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department grant of $750,000. Applications are due in August, and a decision would be made in the spring, Coleman said.
Coleman said he expects the park will be approved next summer and construction will begin in October 2024.
Quote of note
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Long expressed his disappointment with the design process of Bay Colony Park. He noted the park’s design has been altered several times and has shrunk in size compared to the original vision due to problems officials should have known beforehand, such as the park’s environmental concerns.
“This project has been horrendous,” he said. “I just don’t know if we’re ever going to see this. The only person this project is working for is the consultants to redesign this project constantly.”
Long asked city officials to determine how much money has already been invested in the park’s design.
Diving in deep
Coleman said the project’s original scope was $8.27 million to create four sports fields. In April 2022, officials expanded the scope, and the budget grew to under $30 million.
After adding some optional ideas to the design, the budget grew a bit more to about $33 million, he said.
The idea to make Bay Colony Park began in 2018. After months of discussion, council approved the design for Phase 1 of the park in April 2020, Director of Parks Chien Wei said.
In July 2021, groups met to discuss designing the entire project rather than just a single phase, and in April 2022, council approved designing the full project with a list of 13 potential additions to the park, Wei said.
