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Round Rock parks officials report millions of annual visits, new partnership with Texas State and strategic land purchases
Summary
Parks and Recreation staff told the council Old Settlers Park and city trails saw heavy use this year, outlined a fitness partnership with Texas State and detailed land acquisitions to support a downtown trail bridge and parking.
Rick, the Parks and Recreation presenter, told the Round Rock City Council the department saw heavy usage across its sites this year and outlined new partnerships and land acquisitions designed to support growing park demand. He said Old Settlers Park typically draws about 2,000,000 visitors annually and staff recorded roughly 1,700,000 visitors in a recent reporting period; the city's trail counters recorded nearly 400,000 trips and Play For All had nearly 300,000 visits.
The update stressed the department's focus on activation and access. "We implemented a trail-side market this year with 21 events and had more than 9,000 people at the first run," Rick said. He described a new fitness partnership with Texas State that will add two physical therapists and a strength coach to the city's programming and aims to broaden services from infancy through older adulthood under a campaign Rick called "8 to 8 to 80 movement." He also highlighted tree-planting (184 planted this year, with about 450 more planned) and more than 10,000 ranger patrol hours and roughly 90,000 ranger contacts.
The presentation noted recent strategic land purchases near the Ruby Hotel to support a planned pedestrian bridge that will link the north and south sides of Brushy Creek and improve trail access to downtown, the library and city facilities. Rick said acquiring roughly 4.66 acres near CMRC provides room for future recreational growth and will allow new parking to support events.
Councilmembers praised staff and asked for clarifications. Councilmember Ortega asked whether closely spaced parking lot exits would change; Rick said one access will be removed as part of a traffic-signal realignment. Mayor Pro Tem Stevens and Councilmember Flores complimented the department's breadth of services, calling parks a cornerstone of the city's quality of life.
The department said it will continue to refine reservation and scheduling policies for high-volume sites such as Old Settlers, and promised follow-up reports as new facilities and partnerships come online. The council did not take formal action on spending during the presentation but thanked staff for the report.
