Southlake council coalesces around closing Fountain Place; staff to return with design that could include full artificial turf

Southlake City Council on March 4 continued a months-long discussion about redesigning Town Hall Park Plaza and largely signaled support for fully closing Fountain Place to create a contiguous lawn and plaza area. Director of Community Services David Miller presented traffic, parking and pedestrian-use data and outlined four options for Fountain Place, and staff said they will return with a detailed design and master construction plan.

The council’s interest centered on Option C, the fully closed-street design that would convert Fountain Place into a continuous plaza with seating, bollards and a new gazebo. “If this is the option chosen, to enhance the character through some different pavers, decorative … you could also do some different things with the bollards,” Director David Miller said during the presentation. Miller told council staff had rechecked traffic and parking numbers and modeling used in prior workshops.

Why it matters: the plaza sits at the heart of the town square and city staff told council the space already functions as a commercial and social conduit. Miller said park-area devices that increase dwell time also increase patronage of nearby retail and restaurants. He described park visitation measured as roughly 190,000 visits in the area over a year (about 520 visits per day with an average dwell time of about 48 minutes) and said about 20.5% of park visitors later dined or shopped nearby, figures staff used to justify design options intended to activate the plaza.

Staff outlined parking and traffic context: the city controls about 2,400 spaces across the town square environment, 192 spaces in the immediate vicinity of Town Hall and 16 on Fountain Place itself. Staff showed traffic counts from a December 23 holiday peak and typical midweek and weekend samples that found Fountain Place carried roughly 14–20 percent of local street traffic during those measured periods.

Council members debated artificial turf versus natural grass. Several members said they preferred a single surface treatment rather than a mix. Mayor Pro Tem Randy Williamson, echoing comments he made earlier at a retreat, argued for full artificial turf: “I strongly feel like we should go full artificial turf across the board,” he said. Director Miller cautioned that artificial turf can have visible seasonal contrasts with surrounding living landscape and that a mixed approach could produce aesthetic inconsistencies: “we wouldn't be able to keep up with it to the tune of keeping it green 100% of the time,” Miller said, referring to overseeding and dormant-season effects.

Staff and council also discussed operational and accessibility constraints for temporary “roll-out” turf; Miller said large-scale roll-out turf would present operational and ADA challenges and that staff’s recommended approach for a hybrid option would rely on hardscape, bollards and decorative elements rather than temporary turf.

Council’s direction and next steps: council members generally favored Option C and asked staff to proceed with a design proposal. Miller said staff is preparing a master construction plan that will include infrastructure and make space for potential future restrooms (installation timing to be decided later). He also said an expensive overlook component appears less likely to move forward based on earlier feedback. Staff will present the design and associated costs to council for future action.

No formal ordinance or budget appropriation to enact a full closure or turf purchase was taken at the March 4 meeting; council requested staff return with a design and cost estimate for future consideration.