Council reviews draft bond package emphasizing trails, parks and community activity center; turf field discussed for youth football

Flower Mound town staff on Wednesday laid out a proposed capital bond package aimed at funding trails, parks improvements and a new Community Activity Center (CAC), and answered council questions about priorities, connectivity and how specific projects — including a possible turf field — would be selected if voters approve funding.

At a work-session-style presentation, town finance and parks staff described a multi-proposition approach. John (town finance staff) said the ballot language will be high-level to preserve flexibility: "As the statute is written and as we're putting out the voters, yes, we are keeping high level language that gives us the ultimate flexibility there." The preliminary, planning-stage numbers presented included roughly $17 million for parks, $15 million for trails and about $50 million toward a CAC as part of an approximately $112 million, five-year program.

The proposal includes five major trail segments across town and specific attention to the Flower Mound Road corridor, where staff said about 1.9 miles of sidewalk are currently below the town's 8-foot trail standard and would need work to meet off-street trail goals. Chuck Jennings, the town's parks and recreation director, showed maps and said completing selected segments would create new loops and north–south connections through developments: "If this gets done... we'll be able to cut through the Riverwalk then go to Leonard and Helen Johns, and take that all the way down through Rustic Timbers, and then all the way to the Vickery, which would be a really nice long segment, 7 plus miles for folks." He added the bond-funded segments would also link parks such as Dixon Park, Chinn Chapel Park and Grand Park.

Council members pressed staff about priorities and whether bond money should be used to upgrade existing sidewalks or to build new off-street trails. John said the ballot's broad wording allows staff to take advantage of grant opportunities or other funding and later bring a prioritized list to council: "This also allows us, if there's grant opportunities... we don't tie ourselves to specific numbers and specific places." Councilmembers said they favored prioritizing off-street trail connections and loops rather than simply replacing existing sidewalks unless a segment clearly met the town's connectivity goals.

Youth football organizers who addressed council during public comment asked for more field capacity and pointed to heavy expenses renting school facilities. Robbie Waters, president of the Flower Mound Youth Football Academy, said the program had 11 teams, 221 players and 54 certified coaches in its first year and that nearly 25% of the league's expenses came from renting school fields: "To address this, we are seeking immediate investment in two regulation grass fields, one on the north side of town and one on the south, to meet the needs of our players and their families." Council and staff discussed how a synthetic turf conversion at Chinn Chapel was included in bond planning and could increase field availability for practices and games. Chuck Jennings said a turf design would take about six months and construction roughly eight to 10 months after design.

Staff told council the goal of the session was to confirm enough comfort from council for staff to place a bond calling measure on the Feb. 3 agenda. No final decisions were made Wednesday; council asked staff to refine language and priorities, and to emphasize trail connectivity and off-street trails in outreach materials if a ballot measure is proposed.

Ending: Staff said, if voters approve a bond package, projects would be delivered in tranches across the five-year funding window and come back to council for sequencing and issuance approval. Councilmembers asked staff to return with refined project lists and cost details before a final call for an election.