Nearly 25 years of inactivity at Cullinan Park is expected to come to an end in 2016. Sugar Land City Council is prepared to officially annex the park’s 754 acres at its Jan. 19 meeting. Meanwhile, the park’s fundraising arm has money to begin upgrading the property.

Dan Neale, director of the Cullinan Park Conservancy, said the nonprofit has raised about $1.5 million in donations from multiple foundations since mid-2015. With these funds, the first round of improvements—including expanding hiking and jogging trails and clearing brush—can soon be implemented.

“If the people of Sugar Land really wanted this park and demonstrated that they wanted this park, then we felt we could get others to come along and lend support as well,” Neale said.

Planned improvements also include boat piers, boardwalks and an extended trail network, wildflower meadows and enhancements to picnic areas. Altogether, Neale estimated the upgrades would cost nearly $10 million.

As part of an interlocal agreement between Sugar Land and Houston made in May, Cullinan Park will be annexed by Sugar Land; however, Houston will still own the property. Neale said the city of Sugar Land could be spending as much as $1 million annually to maintain the park, but Doug Adolph, Sugar Land assistant director of communications, said the cost would be around $50,000 annually.

City Council approved adding the park to Sugar Land’s extraterritorial jurisdiction in September. Since then, two public hearings were held in December, and council will have two readings of the ordinance before the annexation is approved.

“I think there are a lot of people who are excited about this,” Sugar Land City Planner Lisa Kocich-Meyer said.

The next step after annexation is to provide security for the park, which falls to the Sugar Land Police Department. The SLPD will install four security cameras and two license plate-recognition cameras at the park.

Assistant Chief Scott Schultz said police would also purchase two utility terrain vehicles and handheld infrared devices to aid in searches around the park.

With the property remaining largely undeveloped, he said monitoring the trails would be the toughest challenge. Security equipment will cost an estimated $100,000 and does not include a new mechanical entrance gate, which Schultz said would be funded by the city’s parks and recreation department.

Schultz said the gate would remain open from dawn until dusk and that the city is not hiring extra officers for the park.