BUDA — The future Eastside Park, a project to expand access to green space on the east side of IH-35, is entering a new stage of planning, improvement and funding this month. At its Feb. 3 meeting, Buda City Council voted 7-0 to approve the final Eastside Park concept and authorized city staff to finalize the Eastside Park Master Plan.
The purchase, design and construction of Eastside Park is included in the 2021 Buda Bonds Project under Prop B. The city allocated $8 million and Hays County additionally supplied $2 million through its 2020 Parks and Open Space Bond.
According to a news release, Buda acquired an approximately 30-acre parcel in June 2024 for the future park. Located at 1645 Hillside Terrance, the site is next to Tom Green Elementary School and near the Green Meadows subdivision. The land was purchased with $6.1 million of the bond allocation and identified by the city “as a high-potential site for future park development to serve neighborhoods on the city’s east side.”
Hays County noted that the site would “promote equitable park access across the city,” as the east side of IH-35 has fewer green spaces and less tree coverage than the west.
For the preliminary design phase, the city allocated $550,000 of the project budget. The city approved $88,885 of this to pay Halff Associates, Inc., a contracting firm brought onto the project to help with planning, cost estimates and public input. This sets the remaining budget from the city and county bonds at $2,700,000.00.
Last year, the project team — composed of city staff and contractors from Halff Associates — conducted two phases of public engagement to craft a design that met the desires of the community, while balancing municipal constraints.
Initial public engagement was held via an in-person open house Sept. 24 and a virtual open house through October. The greatest public engagement came from an open house at Boo-Da Halloween, where 110 community members gave input on their desires for the park.
The project team also consulted city staff from the Buda Bonds Oversight Commission and Parks Commission.
“We felt comfortable to move forward with two concepts,” said capital improvement manager Austin Messerli.
Both concepts shared key elements, such as an open lawn, pavilions, ponds and recreational activities, but differed in layout and minor additions. The project team brought the concepts back to the community to garner feedback on element preferences and overall design. Input from city staff was taken Nov. 19 and from the community at Budafest Dec. 5.
In the second engagement phase, residents located in close proximity told the project team: “Please don’t put the loud amenities right behind our house,” according to the presentation. To address noise concerns, the pavilion and event space were placed further from residential areas in the final concept and a large wall was added as a sound buffer.
“Thanks for going back out. That was one of my requests. The initial feedback was a little bit sparse,” noted council member Evan Ture.
The team also held a virtual open house through December, which had 94 participants. Messerli added that 75 of the respondents lived east of IH-35.
“We want to make sure the east side gets input,” he said.
“I am glad that [those residents] took the initiative to get out there and provide their feedback, so that we can really look at this and provide what they’re needing on that side,” stated council member LaVonia Horne-Williams.
Ultimately, the final park concept included a playground, disc golf course, community center and public arts plaza. The site has two entry points: one on Hillside Terrace and one attached to the Green Meadows subdivision. Trails, two ponds and added scenery will be interspersed throughout.
“We believe we were able to meet those desires from the oversight committee, as well as what the public has asked for through that feedback,” Messerli stated.
“I do like this concept plan a lot. I like the entrance and egress with small roundabouts. I like that there are passive walking paths for people … playscape equipment, I like that, as well. We’ll have things for children of multiple ages,” council member Horne-Williams added.
Looking ahead, city staff have greater authorization to develop funding and improvement strategies for the park master plan.
Messerli clarified that “There’s no intent to start construction on elements tomorrow. The intent behind this is to guide staff, parks commission and city council in the future on how we may want to implement this.”
Buda City Council will meet next at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17.
