Pickleball at Irene Stern and a $56 million regional park concept: what's in Fulshear's draft parks plan

Fulshear's parks plan is starting to take shape on paper. At the Sept. 11 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission, a representative of Burditt Consultants LLC handed out concept renderings and early cost estimates for three projects in the city's Parks and Pathways Master Plan: a new regional park, an Irene Stern Park expansion and Primrose Park Phase Four.

The details come from the commission's draft minutes of that meeting, posted with its Oct. 9 agenda packet. These are concepts. The minutes don't record a vote on any of them.

Irene Stern Park: courts and gardens

The Irene Stern concept adds six tennis courts and eight pickleball courts. It also rebuilds the playgrounds and adds a new storage building, two shade structures (one between the courts and one south of them), a community garden and another pollinator garden.

The plan leaves the community center as it is. The existing outdoor restroom and the butterfly pollinator garden stay too.

Primrose Park Phase Four: more fields

Phase Four at Primrose Park shows one softball field, one tee-ball field, four basketball courts, a parking lot, a walking trail, a concessions building, a pavilion and a small turf lawn for open play.

Commission Chair Ramona Ridge asked the designers to look at permeable pavers and to avoid Bermuda grass in that phase.

A regional park, and its price tag

The biggest idea is a new regional park. The minutes describe it as new park land that the city would get by annexing it from its extraterritorial jurisdiction. The land is mostly flat farmland with drainage ways, and the minutes say the owners want to keep part of it the way it is now, with open space, wildflowers and grazing areas for cattle.

The current concept has eight softball fields, four multipurpose or soccer fields, a velotrack for cycling and a trail. Disc golf and a second, harder bike track have also come up. The early estimate is about $56 million, and the minutes say earthwork and paving are the biggest costs.

Commissioner Leah Smith asked whether the city has $56 million for the project. City Manager Zach Goodlander, speaking from the audience, said park fees won't cover everything the regional park needs and that the city is looking for ways to bring the total cost down.

Pocket parks at lift stations

Burditt also shared early ideas for small pocket parks at three city-owned lift stations. The ideas include a trail with a small play structure, a mural with seating, and open space with seating. City staff said parklets weren't approved in the 2027 budget but can come back for discussion at a later meeting.

What happens next

The minutes don't give a timeline for any of the three projects. They're listed as draft minutes, and approving them was on the commission's Oct. 9 agenda. The commission meets at the Fulshear Municipal Complex, 6611 W. Cross Creek Bend Lane, and posts its agendas on the city's Granicus page.