Buda council approves Garrison Park base scope to gain state grant; defers full planting package pending bids

The Buda City Council on Tuesday authorized staff to move forward with bidding the Garrison Park project’s base scope — including water‑access improvements and an overlook required by a $750,000 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) grant — and directed that the larger, more expensive “enhanced planting” package be treated as an alternate pending bid results.

The council’s action lets the city accept TPWD grant conditions that require certain water access and canopy/overlook elements to be included in the publicly bid work while postponing a roughly $2 million enhanced planting program so leaders can review firm construction bids before committing additional city funds.

Parks staff presented cost estimates and a set of add alternates prepared by design consultant Tenike; the city currently has an internal construction budget for the project estimated at $9.8 million. The staff and design team recommended treating the canopy walk and overlook (add alternate 1) and additional water access points (add alternate 2) as mandatory elements because those are conditions of the TPWD grant, and making the larger planting package (add alternate 3) an optional bid alternate.

“We’re going to go out to bid base bid including 1 and 2, and we’ll make alternate 3 the enhanced plantings,” Mayor Lee Urbanovsky said as he moved the motion. The motion passed on a voice vote; council recorded no opposition. Councilmembers had earlier debated whether to reallocate roughly $2.7 million from the remaining East Side Park acquisition funds to cover all alternates immediately. Several members said they preferred to wait for actual bid results and avoid draining the East Side Park funds without firm numbers.

Design principal Stephanie Solomon of consultant Tenike described the differences between the base planting approach and the enhanced planting package. The enhanced plan increases container sizes and numbers of canopy trees along trails to provide shade sooner and adds more robust riparian planting and hard‑armoring at water access points to protect shorelines. Those choices raise initial construction costs but produce a more mature landscape sooner and reduce near‑term maintenance needs.

Crawford, presenting on behalf of parks staff, said the TPWD grant raised the importance of including the canopy walk and certain water‑access elements in the bid package. He told council that the project schedule remains optimistic and depends on permitting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Texas Historical Commission and TCEQ; staff expects to advertise for construction bids this summer and begin construction in the fall if permits arrive in time.

Council voted to: (a) proceed to advertise the project for bid with the base bid including the canopy/overlook and TPWD‑required water access points; (b) list the enhanced planting package as an add alternate; and (c) defer any large reallocation of East Side Park funds until bids are received and exact costs are known.

What happens next: staff will solicit public construction bids on the base scope, return to council with bid results and a recommendation on whether to award with or without the enhanced planting alternate. If the council wants the enhanced planting scope after bids, staff will recommend funding options at that time.