Consultant summarizes comprehensive parks master plan, highlights maintenance analytics and CAPRA path

Consultant Ron Stewart and Highland Village staff briefed the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on the city’s comprehensive parks, recreation and trails master plan at the March 17 meeting, highlighting maintenance analytics, grant-readiness and options to improve program funding.

Stewart described how the plan inventories park acreage and amenities, compares Highland Village to benchmark communities and documents maintenance hours and level-of-service targets. That maintenance analysis, completed in 2022, is intended to help staff match resources to community expectations and to support future grant applications to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and other funding sources. Stewart said Highland Village generally rates above national standards on maintenance measures used in the plan.

Staff and consultant noted the plan supports the city’s ability to apply for grants and to pursue CAPRA accreditation (the National Recreation and Park Association’s accreditation program). Stewart said CAPRA is not a requirement for most Texas Parks and Wildlife grants but can strengthen applications and give the community a national accreditation stamp.

The consultant pointed to action-item lists in the plan (pages 96–98 in the draft referenced at the meeting) and emphasized the need to align maintenance staffing and budgets with new or expanded facilities. He said adding parks without commensurate maintenance staffing can create multi-year funding gaps. Staff pointed out the city’s maintenance reporting and work-order tracking provide the data needed to estimate true maintenance costs; Highland Village’s shoreline and trails also influence maintenance workload and costs relative to benchmark cities.

On programming and cost recovery, the report shows Highland Village currently has relatively low cost recovery (roughly 11% on the metric discussed at the meeting) compared with some peer cities that recover more from fees and events. Staff said a deeper cost-recovery analysis and consultant engagement is on the department’s list of priorities so the city can evaluate charging models and new revenue-generating events while preserving free community programs where appropriate.

Stewart and staff highlighted other plan features: a paddleboard trail map for Lake Lewisville, an inventory of existing facilities and recommended program changes such as additional teen programming and potential new amenities like disc golf or additional courts if land becomes available. The plan documents community engagement completed during the planning process and lists prioritized action items for staff and the board to consider.

Board members asked about timing and next steps. Stewart said the plan is a strategic document designed to be updated and used for grant applications and capital planning; Phil said staff will bring prioritization and follow-up recommendations to the board and council and will involve the board on CAPRA accreditation steps when ready.

The presentation reinforced budgetary trade-offs: the consultant and staff noted that some items — for example, paid staffing or capital maintenance — compete with other city priorities such as public safety and utilities, and that recommendations must be evaluated in that context. The plan’s maintenance analytics and action lists are intended to help staff develop defensible budget requests and to identify potential sponsorships, partnerships or program-level revenue to offset costs.