Missouri City staff urges update to parkland dedication fee, proposes fewer park zones and trail-credit incentive

City staff on Monday urged the Missouri City Council to direct updates to the city's parkland dedication ordinance, proposing a higher fee per dwelling unit, consolidation of the city's 13 park zones into fewer, larger zones and a credit to encourage developer-built trail connections.

Danielle Stewart, assistant director of parks and recreation, told the council the current parkland dedication fee of $1,400 per dwelling unit was set in 2015 and was based on a 2014 market analysis. "We would recommend an update to our fee based on current development costs," Stewart said, noting that staff now estimates development costs at about $470,000 per acre.

The recommendation to the council included four core changes: accept for dedication only land identified in the city's Parks Master Plan; raise the fee to reflect current park development costs (Stewart described an updated calculation that would result in roughly $4,700 per dwelling unit when excluding the land…