Feasibility study: Pflugerville faces major deficit in athletic fields; construction bill estimated at $80M

At its Dec. 18 meeting, the Pflugerville Parks and Recreation Commission heard a feasibility study from Park Hill that found the city lacks substantial athletic-field capacity and is already turning away organized-play requests. Chad Davis, the Park Hill landscape architect leading the study, said analysis of city and league data showed about 860 unallocated hours in 2025 and that the city was denying roughly 11–11.5% of requested field hours.

Davis said the consultant team used National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) benchmarks and direct meetings with local leagues to set needs. "Improved and expanded facilities, dedicated field space, soccer, football, baseball, softball, cricket are probably the biggest needs at the moment," Davis said. The report benchmarks Pflugerville against NRPA ratios and calculates a current deficit of about 95 acres across field types; that deficit grows under population-projection scenarios (the report cited about 177 acres by 2035 under its mid-range assumptions).

The study highlighted the greatest shortfalls in baseball and softball—Davis said the NRPA benchmark implies about 15 softball fields for a community of Pflugerville's size while the city had effectively one available in its system, leaving a deficit on the order of 14 softball fields (roughly 31 acres at 2.2 acres per field). For baseball the consultant estimated a roughly 13-field shortfall and larger acreage need. Davis emphasized that those construction estimates exclude land-acquisition costs and that land availability, easements and utilities will influence final budgets and schedules.

On cost, Park Hill presented a construction-and-infrastructure estimate of roughly $80,000,000 to meet current field-construction needs (the consultant explicitly said this figure does not include land purchase). The presentation included inflation scenarios that raised projected totals for later planning windows (examples cited in the presentation: about $113M under certain price adjustments and roughly $147M by 2035 in the consultant's scenarios).

Commissioners and staff discussed fee policy, scheduling and current city investments that have lifted allocated hours significantly (the presentation compared allocated hours rising from ~2,600 in fall 2023 to ~7,462 in fall 2025 as scheduling and maintenance improved). Staff noted cost-recovery targets and said recreational leagues remain heavily subsidized while travel/select programs should shoulder a greater share of costs.

After questions, the commission made a motion to set a staff recommendation to move the feasibility study forward for the next steps (presentation to planning/council processes and potential bond consideration) and the motion carried by voice vote. Staff will return with the full report, area plans and supporting notes from stakeholder meetings to use in future planning and bond discussions.

What happens next: staff and consultants will provide the full feasibility report and cost worksheets to the commission and to council processes for review; any bond or acquisition proposals will require further public discussion, detailed land-cost estimates and formal inclusion in a bond package for voter consideration.