Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission awards $9 million in local park grants across Texas

by Staff of Texas Parks & Wildlife

Urban Outdoor and Indoor recreation grants are reserved for communities with populations of 500,000 or more.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission on Aug. 27 approved more than $9 million in competitive parks and recreation grants for city and county parks and other sites across the state. Grant project descriptions are listed by county below.

The Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso areas were awarded a combined total of $3.8 million from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Urban Outdoor Recreation Grants program. San Antonio was also awarded $1 million from TPWD’s Indoor Recreation Grants program.

Dallas County -- The City of Dallas was awarded $1,000,000 to develop a trail along five mile creek from College Park to Glendale Park and to make improvements at College Park, located in the south area of the city. The grant will fund a softball field, trail and connecting walkways renovation, playground and drainage improvements, and the implementation of security lighting.

Denton County -- The City of Krugerville was awarded $75,000 to develop a first-time 3-acre city park, located on the northern side of the Fair Meadows Drive and Sherry Lane South intersection. Playgrounds, a multipurpose playing field, concrete trail, wooden footbridge, picnic tables, benches, a parking lot, and landscaping will all be implemented.

Urban Outdoor and Indoor recreation grants are reserved for communities with populations of 500,000 or more, and both provide matching grants of up to $1 million. Urban Outdoor grants are used to acquire and develop parkland. Urban Indoor grants are for constructing public recreation centers, community centers and nature centers. Once a grant is awarded, recipients must permanently designate the site for public recreational use and agree to operate and maintain the grounds.

Eight other communities across the state were awarded a combined $3.6 million in grants from TPWD’s Outdoor Recreation Grants program, which funds acquisition and/or development of outdoor recreation sites for communities with populations less than 500,000.

Eleven communities were awarded a total of about $750,000 from TPWD’s Small Community Grants program. This program provides matching grants of up to $50,000 for communities with a population of 20,000 or less.

These grants support the acquisition, development and beautification of city and county parks, seen as the "frontline" in the nationwide system of parks. TPWD funds can be applied to the construction and repair of trails, ball fields, fishing, boating or hunting facilities, picnic areas, playgrounds, swimming pools, camp grounds, gardens, and other recreational facilities.

The Small Community, Urban Indoor, and Urban Outdoor grants are funded exclusively from the Texas Recreation and Parks Account, created by the Texas Legislature in 1993 to help cities and counties provide public recreation facilities. TRPA revenue comes from a portion of the state sales tax on sporting goods.

Outdoor Recreation Grants are funded from the TRPA and from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is supported by offshore oil and gas royalties. All are 50-50 matching grants, requiring recipients to provide equal dollars to match what the state provides. The total cost of each project is thus twice the amount listed below.