Georgetown council reviews San Gabriel Park Phase 4 master plan; turf, water and cost trade‑offs take center stage

City of Georgetown City Council heard a presentation on a proposed master plan for San Gabriel Park Phase 4, including field layouts, access changes and an opinion of probable construction costs, during a council workshop.

The plan, presented by Eric Neuner, Assistant Parks and Recreation Director, and Chad Davis of consultant Park Hill, revises an earlier option and adds engineering detail on grades and storm routing, estimated capacities for additional parks and an updated opinion of probable construction cost (OPCC) for the full illustrated plan.

The park design shows a central ball complex with a loop road, distributed parking, restroom and pedestrian spaces, and a mix of field sizes (8U–18U). Davis said the OPCC for the plan as shown is about $58,000,000 and that the estimate “includes everything as illustrated in the master plan including full synthetic turf on seven baseball fields, the infield on one baseball field, and the soccer fields.”

Why it matters: Council and staff focused on practical tradeoffs — whether to use synthetic turf on some fields to increase playing hours and conserve water versus the higher capital cost and different ongoing maintenance profile. That decision affects how many people the existing parks can serve without building new sites, how the city budgets capital and maintenance dollars, and the park’s visual and operational impacts on nearby streets.

Most of the technical discussion centered on three matters: water demand, lifecycle cost and visual/topographic impacts.

Davis presented modeled irrigation demand for the full master‑plan playing surfaces. He told the council the Penman‑Monteith–based…