McAllen Continues to Build New Parks
McALLEN – McAllen is constructing and designing six new parks and recreations facilities as part of overall efforts to make the community greener and provide residents – and their pets – with more recreational opportunities.
A dog park, several neighborhood parks with ball fields and walking trails, a park with a “spray ground” and other water features, an environmental education center glass room and more hike and bike trails are all set to come on line in the near future.
On Saturday at 10 a.m., the City of McAllen will break ground on The Crossings Park in northwest McAllen. The six-acre park, near 23rd Street and Freddy Gonzalez in The Crossings development, will serve residents in a new, fast-growing area of city.
“Providing our residents with these kinds of projects is very important to McAllen,” said City Commissioner Marcus Barrera. “We’d like to do even more, but these park and recreation projects we have going now are very exciting. They give our residents more places to exercise and spend quality family time together.”
“They are places where kids go just go play and have fun.”
In the last several years, McAllen’s leaders have put an emphasis on quality of life projects, and the City of McAllen has been able to substantially build up it its inventory of parks and recreational spaces to more than 500 acres. What’s more, McAllen is keeping up with phenomenal population growth and development around the city. McAllen city parks often serve as gathering points for residents from around the entire the Rio Grande Valley.
At several different points around the city, 24 miles of walking and/or hike and bike trails have been constructed and nearly 100 acres of city/school parks have been created allowing thousands of residents and families to play soccer, practice youth sports or simply run or walk a few miles for exercise.
While there are several major parks on the way, the closest to completion are the McAllen Dog Park, Zinnia Park and Morris City/School Park. The McAllen Dog Park will be the Valley’s first public park space dedicated to dogs and their owners. These spaces are common in many larger cities around Texas and are wildly popular. Located in central McAllen, the “bark park” is set open within a few weeks.
Zinnia Park will be a unique in that it will include one of the coolest places for kids in the Valley. A spray ground, or splash ground, is where water fountains pop out of a perforated ground surface. Zinnia, in northwest McAllen, will also have ball fields and another water feature to attract avian wildlife.
The Morris/City School Park is the biggest of the green projects on the slate at 41 acres. Located in north McAllen, the park will also serve as regional detention facility – such as McAuliffe and Jackson city school parks. Morris will provide the area with more spaces to practice sports and have fun.
Perhaps one of the most exciting park projects in the region in some time is what’s currently called Fireman’s Park. Located at 2nd Street and Business 83, the 17-acre space will have a small lake and accommodate fishing, day camping and canoeing. Fireman’s Park is currently under design.
The Quinta Mazatlan Glass Room is also under design and will be part of the city-owned facility’s education effort and will add value to one of the city’s iconic attractions. The Crossings Park’s design is also underway and the effort to build the extension of Bicentennial’s trails is just underway.
“Building these parks are investments in our community,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Hilda Salinas. “They will give us a big return on our investment in a healthier, greener city that we all can be proud of. These parks are important for all our residents.”