League City council approves $198,095 agreement to design Heritage Signature Trail after debate over sidewalk through historic district

League City council on Aug. 12 approved a professional services agreement not to exceed $198,095 with Halff Associates to design and provide construction-based services for the Heritage Signature Trail, a project identified in the city's parks master plan that aims to link Leek Park, Heritage Park and the planned Kilgore Track in the historic district.

The vote followed roughly 30 minutes of public comment and resident testimony focused on the trail alignment along Kansas Street and whether the project should use an 8-foot multiuse trail or smaller, 5-foot sidewalks in the historic neighborhood. Mike Peterson, a resident and advocate for the trail, told the council the project seeks to improve safety for children and families along Kansas Street and said the trail team had developed “workarounds” after earlier concerns.

“This is about safety,” Peterson said during the public comment period. “We as a team here, as a city, we have to do what we can to help prevent this from happening again in the future.”

Several homeowners who would be directly adjacent to the proposed route urged changes. Carla (last name not specified in the transcript), who lives at 524 North Kansas, said the proposed alignment would place a sidewalk roughly 30 feet from her house and described what she called an intrusive impact on her front yard: “We would just lose half of our front yard,” she said, explaining that her house sits about 70 feet from the street and the sidewalk would run through the middle of her yard.

City staff (identified in the meeting as Chen) told councilmembers the Heritage Signature Trail was recommended in the parks master plan and that staff had held two public meetings to solicit resident feedback. Chen said the majority of historic-district respondents supported an off-road trail because of increasing traffic on Kansas and Wisconsin and described the trail currently proposed as an 8-foot multiuse trail with a maximum 6-foot width in front of the two contested homes.

Council discussion centered on the trail width, the trade-off between a narrower 5-foot sidewalk and an 8-foot trail that allows two-way foot and bicycle traffic, and whether acquiring easements in front yards was appropriate in the historic district. Councilmember Collins said he was concerned that the 8-foot trail would require more right-of-way and suggested a 5-foot sidewalk might meet residents’ needs. Councilmember Chesser urged approval, saying staff had done “due diligence” by studying multiple options and that the only substantive pushback was the segment in front of the two homes.

After debate, the council first agreed, by an 8-0 vote, to move the Heritage Signature Trail item up on the agenda. The council then approved the professional services agreement for PK-2302 with Halff Associates; the transcript records the vote result in the meeting log as “Motion passes 5 4, 3 against” (see provenance). The approved authorization directs staff to execute a design and construction-phase services agreement not to exceed $198,095.

Why it matters: The Heritage Signature Trail is intended to create a continuous, off-road connection among three parks in League City's historic district and to improve pedestrian safety on streets without sidewalks. The exact alignment and width of the trail determine whether easements will be required through some front yards; several residents said they prefer alternative routing that would start at Satsuma rather than Coral (Corio/Coral/Corio text varies in the transcript) to avoid running a trail through their yards.

Next steps and context: Council and staff said the project has been under study for several years and that design work will proceed under the new agreement. Chen said staff eliminated earlier alignment segments along Railroad and Coryell streets and is proposing shared-use street treatments for some blocks instead. Staff also told councilmembers they will pursue the narrowest feasible width (a maximum of 6 feet in the contested segment if necessary) and will return to council with further design documents and easement requests.

Votes at a glance - Motion to move Item 8C (Heritage Signature Trail) earlier on the agenda — Passed, recorded in the transcript as 8 for, 0 against. - Motion to approve a resolution authorizing a professional services agreement with Halff Associates for design and construction-phase services for the Heritage Signature Trail (PK-2302) in an amount not to exceed $198,095 — Approved; vote recorded in the meeting log as “Motion passes 5 4, 3 against.”

Sources and limitations: This article is based on the League City Council meeting transcript for Aug. 12, 2025. Quotations are taken from residents and councilmembers recorded in the meeting. Where the transcript uses different spellings or incomplete names (for example, Corio/Coral/Coriel), the article uses the spelling consistent with speakers’ statements but does not invent additional facts. The firm contracting for the design is listed in the meeting as Halff (transcript spelled “half”), corrected here to Halff Associates, the firm identified by staff during the presentation.