City selects firm to develop a 10-year Parks & Rec plan

Belton will hire Dallas-based MHS Planning & Design to develop a new Parks & Recreation Strategic Master Plan for 2026 through 2036.

MHS Planning & Design has more than 30 years of expertise, specializing in landscape architecture, civic engineering, planning and grant writing. The company has helped more than 75 Texas counties, cities, utility districts, camps and churches with their parks, recreation and public space needs.

“Our current Parks and Recreation Strategic Master Plan was adopted in 2016, and the 5-year update was adopted in 2021,” said James Grant, director of Belton’s Parks & Recreation department. “It is now time to begin the process of developing a new 10-year Master Plan.”

“With Council’s approval with MHS, the company will begin putting a new plan together,” Grant said. “There will be stakeholder meetings, surveys, public engagement meetings and pop-up events where they will set up in our parks and ask the community what they like about our parks as well as what they would like to see in our parks in the future.”

“We will be able to take advantage of some identified savings in the Fiscal 2025 budget and not put this financial burden on our Fiscal 2026 budget,” he said. “This will also allow us to have our new Master Plan ready for council’s review early in 2026 just in time for Fiscal 2027 budget preparation.”

The city’s current Parks & Recreation Master Plan was adopted in 2016 and a five-year update was implemented in 2021. Grant told City Council members this week that “it is now time to begin the process of developing a new 10-year plan that will take us through 2036.”

“By bringing this request to (Council) now, we will be able to take advantage of some identified savings in the Fiscal 2025 budget and not put this financial burden on our Fiscal 2026 budget,” he said in his report to Council.

According to Grant, Belton received requests from 25 firms and nine proposals were submitted. MHS Planning & Design stood out as the top choice following a round of interviews.

The $75,000 plan is expected to take about eight months to complete once the project begins.

Under the Master Plan created in 2016, the city’s walking and hiking trails more than doubled in size, and a half-mile of trails at Heritage Park were added. Athletic complexes throughout the city have been improved, and a new dog park was constructed.

Other park improvements during the past 10 years include opening the Nolan Creek Nature Trail, opening Jeff Hamilton Park, reopening Miller Springs Nature Center, adding kayaking and fishing programs, building a community garden at Heritage Park, installing a disc golf course at Heritage in 2018, and many more projects and improvements.

“Having a Parks Master Plan in place is extremely helpful with guiding our department in the direction our community wants us to go,” Grant added. “It helps us plan our budgets each year and is a requirement to have in place when applying to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for grants to help fund our projects.”

“Most recently, those grants have helped fund the Heritage Park expansion where we received a grant for $750,000, and Standpipe Park project with another $750,000,” he said. “As you can see, spending a little money to conduct and have in place a great Parks Master Plan is extremely important and will really pay off in the future.”