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Boerne council delays naming of new Northside park, asks members to submit choices
Summary
The Boerne City Council on June 9 tabled a decision on naming the Northside Community Park after staff reported 118 community survey responses and a shortlist of 13 names; councilmembers asked staff to refine options and each member to submit three name proposals ahead of the June 23 meeting.
Boerne's City Council on Tuesday delayed choosing a name for the Northside Community Park, directing staff to refine the list of candidates and asking each council member to submit three name proposals before the council reconvenes on June 23.
Christy Stark, parks staff, told the council the city received 118 survey responses from a 12-day public outreach effort and consolidated 91 submissions into a recommended list of 13 names. "So we had a total of a 118 survey respondents," Stark said during her presentation, adding that 60 respondents were city residents and 58 were nonresidents.
Councilmembers debated whether the park should honor local families or carry a more universal, place-based name. "I don't like things being named for people," said Dr. Macaluso (Councilmember), who suggested a hybrid such as "Boerne Heritage Park" that would allow monuments or interpretive signage to commemorate local families without limiting the park's identity.
Councilman Bateman and others questioned the sample size of the survey and recommended staff either solicit broader community input or present a narrower, council-curated shortlist for a final ranking. Bateman suggested revisiting the full set of 91 submissions and limiting the finalists to a shorter list to drive more decisive public engagement.
Stark told council members the ranking was assembled using the city's naming policy and that the top three results from the council's force-ranking exercise were Boerne Commons Park, Volkspark ("People's Park"), and North Boerne Community Park (a tie among the second-place options). She said staff can return with additional outreach or a narrowed list based on council direction.
By motion, the council tabled the item to the next meeting on June 23 and directed each councilmember to provide three name suggestions to staff for a new force-ranking. The motion passed unanimously.
The council's next step is to receive councilmembers' suggestions and ask staff to run another ranking exercise; the naming discussion will resume at the June 23 meeting.
