After public opposition, Georgetown council signals not to advance Berry Creek Trail through neighborhood

Georgetown councilmembers on Thursday signaled they would not advance the Berry Creek Trail West alignment through the Berry Creek neighborhood after hearing consultant findings and strong resident opposition.

Kimberly Garrett, Parks & Recreation director, and consultants from Covey Planning & Landscape Architecture presented three refined route options to connect Berry Springs Park to the future Westside Park. Williamson County reserved $2.9 million through a 2023 park bond to match a city allocation of $2.9 million (phased in FY26–27) for an initial funding package of about $5.8 million, Garrett said. Covey’s route scoring considered topography, floodplain, easements, parcel size and right‑of‑way constraints; reported combined scores included several routes in the high 70s (examples cited: 79, 73, 79) with segment‑level scores: in Segment 2, Route 1 (Berry Creek Drive) scored 76, Route 2 (Champions Drive/Shell Spur) 73, and Route 3 (Airport/195) 79.

Consultants told council they presented the three options at a public meeting on Oct. 2 with 115 registered participants. Participants ranked Route 3 (along 195) highest, Route 2 second and Route 1 third; 60 participants selected an option indicating they did not want any trail.

Councilmember Kevin Pitts led discussion, calling it difficult to retrofit a multiuse trail through an existing golf‑cart community and expressing safety and neighbor‑acceptance concerns. "The majority of the folks who would likely receive the most benefit from this trail don't want the trail," Pitts said, urging staff to "scribe the trail" and redirect the CIP funds to other priorities. Councilmember Amanda and Councilmember Ben Butler voiced similar concerns about competing city needs, use and lifecycle costs; Garrett answered that lifecycle funding for trail maintenance exists in special revenue funds and that detailed lifecycle or use projections were not currently available but could be developed.

During public comment, residents and neighborhood leaders thanked council for listening and urged the city not to move forward: a speaker said a petition included signatures from more than 177 families opposed to a trail through the neighborhood, and several Berry Creek residents emphasized safety, privacy and property‑access concerns. One commenter, an offensive‑security professional, cited studies linking increased foot traffic with some crime‑pattern changes and warned against placing a trail through an established residential area.

Mayor described council direction as "clear" and told residents the council was not moving forward with the trail; staff invited registered speakers to comment and preserved the public record.

What’s next: Council direction at the workshop was informal — staff did not record a formal motion or vote during the workshop — and the city will decide whether to reallocate CIP funds or pursue alternative, smaller‑scale connections in collaboration with county partners and developers.

Correction note: transcript contained inconsistent spellings for the park and country club; this article uses "Berry Springs Park" and "Berry Creek Country Club" as the localized names used in the presentation and public comments.