City Council adopted the City of Southlake’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan at its June 15 meeting.

The Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan is an element of the Southlake 2035 Comprehensive Plan, which encompasses the vision, goals and objectives that define the values in the community.  The plan development represents over a year and a half of work between elected and appointed officials, community stakeholders and citizens and will serve as a framework to guide decisions related to parks and open space planning for the future.

In 2019, City Council appointed the Parks Board to oversee the development of the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan. As part of the plan’s development, the Park Board conducted a community parks citizens survey and studied the results, received feedback from social media engagement, held 15 public meetings, received input from other City boards such as the Southlake Youth Action Committee, Senior Advisory Committee, Southlake Kids Interested in Leadership and School Health Advisory Council, held an open house to receive public feedback on the plan and held a SPIN (Southlake Programs for the Involvement of Neighborhoods) meeting.

In addition, both the City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on the plan prior to adoption. The plan development process took place in four phases: review of the current state of parks recreation and open spaces, incorporate community feedback and develop new concept plans and recommendations.

Once the Park Board developed the recommendations were divided into three categories: citywide policy recommendations, capital parks projects recommendations and non-capital parks project recommendations.

For each specific recommendation, a relative tier ranking was established to articulate the expected implementation timeframe for that recommendation and are then prioritized and ranked by the parks board and City Council.

“Great parks and open space play such an important role in strengthening our community, improving our physical and mental health, and making Southlake a great community to live and work.  The Park Board in conjunction with the Community Services and Planning and Development Departments have worked diligently over the past 18 months to create a plan that will serve as a blueprint to ensure that Southlake has great parks and open space to serve our citizens and many future generations,” Senior Director of Planning and Development Services Ken Baker said.

A full copy of the newly adopted City of Southlake Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan is available on the City of Southlake’s website.

The plan encompasses strategies that will continue to accommodate the growing Southlake community by creating more opportunities for recreational programs and services, in addition to investing in enhanced park facilities and open spaces.

These recommendations were collected utilizing community surveys, public meetings and social media engagement.