Consultants recommend council adopt parks master plan to boost grant competitiveness

Paul Howard of Burdett Consultants recommended that the City of Navasota formally adopt the Parks Master Plan so the city can score higher on state grant applications and better sequence park investments. "Ultimately, we would recommend adopting this master plan, pending any revisions that you might have, because what that does is it sets you up, to be in a good position for grants from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department through their local parks grant program," Howard told council, noting the program can be worth up to $750,000 on a 50‑50 match.

Howard summarized the consultant team’s inventory and analyses: Navasota has about 112.4 acres of parkland and roughly 1.8 miles of trails, which amounts to approximately 10.77 acres per 1,000 residents — near the national median. He said survey and workshop input showed strong support for reinvesting in existing parks, expanding trail connectivity and adding family‑friendly amenities such as splash pads and playground upgrades. Howard said formal adoption would also support grant applications and cooperative agreements with partners such as the school district and TxDOT for trail connections.