Jan. 26, 2024

This spring, the city of Dallas will begin developing the first of 15 new parks on city-owned properties, in a push to add more environmentally-friendly amenities to underserved neighborhoods. 

Dallas Parks and Recreation and The Trust for Public Land recently unveiled the plan to build a total 15 new parks as part of the city’s Green Initiative. Five park locations were released this month and will go into production in early spring. 

These parks will serve as green spaces across Dallas neighborhoods, granting communities tailored amenities and new ways to enjoy nature around them. All 15 of these green spaces will be completed in three years. 

A creek at 2100 Echo Lake Drive, where a new park is planned in southeast Dallas. Courtesy of the Trust for Public Land.

Molly Plummer, Parks and Schoolyards Director at The Trust for Public Land, says the Green Initiative is a priority project of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson. The Mayor appointed Garrett Boone as the city's first greening czar in April. The overall goal of the Initiative is to add green spaces to every council district. 

"{It's goal is] to provide more close home access to green spaces in neighborhoods around Dallas that need them,” says Plummer, while transforming vacant, unused or underused city-owned property.

Some neighborhoods may want or need specific things, such as playgrounds, walking paths or even more nature-centric solutions. The Green Initiative aims to ensure residents’ desires are included in the overall vision of these projects.  

“Communities are going to determine what their spaces look like,” Plummer explained.

PARK PARTNERS

One of the new park locations is 10600 Black Walnut Drive in northeast Dallas. Courtesy of Trust for Public Land.

Other organizations are also involved in bringing these park spaces to life. TPL has partnered with Studio Outside, a Dallas-based landscape architecture firm to help design the properties based on community input. In addition, Dallas-based Better Block Foundation will also help by activating park spaces, and pop-up parks and allowing residents to visit their neighborhood sites and give feedback during production. 

A new park is planned at 3749 Cotillion Drive in northeast Dallas. Courtesy of Trust for Public Land.

TPL received a $1 million gift from Lyda Hill Foundation and $250,000 gift from the Meadows Foundation in support of the program. Combined with the $1.25 million in ARPA funding committed by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, this brings the total funding available for the program to $2.5 million. 

The City of Dallas will be managing the construction of the park sites, with the majority of installation and park maintenance being handled by their crews. 

Plummer states that TPL will look for ways to enhance the natural beauty of the sites and ensure that the needs of the community and their overall vision make it into park designs. TPL will also “oversee the community engagement and design” regarding the construction of the parks. 

TPL has worked on other city of Dallas projects over the years, including the Five Mile Creek initiative, Judge Charles R Rose Park, a 40-acre park in Highland Hills, and a 90-acre parcel off of Ledbetter and 35 South called Woody Branch. 

TPL has also been involved in mapping and land modeling work as well. In 2018 TPL created Smart Growth, a public GIS tool used to analyze greenspaces for the city of Dallas.  

NEW PARK SITES

As for the Green Initiatives' 15 parks, the first five are set to go into production this spring. 

The addresses of these five parks were released, and are located in different neighborhoods around the Dallas area. 

The locations include:

• 7327 Lake June Road, located in the 76217 zipcode, 

• 3749 Cotillion Drive, located in the 75228 zipcode, 

• 10600 Black Walnut Drive, located in the 75243 zipcode, 

• 3728 High Vista Drive, located in the 75244 zipcode and 

• 2100 Echo Lake Drive, located in the 75253 zipcode. 

A new park is planned at 7327 Lake June Road in southeast Dallas. Courtesy of Trust for Public Land.

The timeline and construction for the overall 15 parks are estimated to be completed quickly.

“We’re aiming to have this project done in three years,” Plummer said. “This isn’t a four-million dollar park or site, we can make a move on them fast.” 

The sites are relatively small, no larger than four acres.

There is a budget of 350K capital to be focused on improvement, community engagement, design, and events centered around projects. 

“Optics will include cleanup and beautification,” she said.

Plummer went on, explaining the construction and potential amenities. Between the parks, there will be possible additions of security cameras, benches, playgrounds, trashcans, dog waste stations, pavilions, loop trails, native plant gardens, and much more. 

As for the parks themselves, they will offer a variety of amenities and uses for the communities. When asked about the use of the individual parks, Plummer mentioned that she was “hesitant to say” what functions would be at these sites, as the community themselves have the ultimate say. 

Describing the growing list of amenities as a ‘menu’ for the community to pick from, Plummer made it clear that what is included in park construction is in the hands of the residents. 

“The community will prioritize out of that amenity list what they want at each site”. 

As the parks are beginning construction in spring, Plummer mentions that the current sites are vacant and are being used for mostly “stormwater purposes.”  

It was very important to TPL that they kept existing amenities and functions from the communities when searching for sites to build new greenspaces. 

“We’re not looking to take away future development” Plummer added, and explained that the overall goal was to provide dual use in these new green spaces to communities without ruining any current features. 

Plummer says that TPL  is thrilled to help bring green spaces of “all shapes and sizes to the city and help neighborhoods.”

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