Belton launches 10-year parks master plan, asking the community for their input

BELTON, Texas (KWTX) - The city of Belton is once again looking to transform and grow their parks and recreation with a 10-year park master plan they do every decade.

James Grant, the Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Belton, says they pride themselves on their parks and trails.

“The whole purpose of parks and rec is to improve the quality of life for our citizens and we are no different than any other city, that is exactly what we do,” Grant shared, “we just think we do it really well”.

And those that use their parks and trails regularly, like Sabrina Clewell of Killeen, agree with this.

“We really like this creek and walking along the creek out here. And in the summer this splash pad is really fun,” Clewell said.

Marcus Griffin adding that the city has done a lot to make sure people want to come here.

“One thing that I do like about coming out here is they have security, they have security cameras,” Griffin said, “I just feel safe, I’m sure the other residents that come out here feel safe as well”.

But there is always room for improvement. That’s where the parks master plan comes in, which starts with a community survey.

“It’s basically a roadmap that the community draws up and that the parks and rec department follows,” Grant said.

Further explaining that they will use the responses from this survey to come up with a plan that will be presented to city council in the Spring of 2026.

“The important part of the plan is so that we can set goals and set our budget, and then go after funding,” he shared.

That funding comes mainly from a $750,000 grant through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which they were awarded twice in the last ten years.

“There’s no way we could do the projects if we didn’t get the grant, it’s hugely important that we do that,” Grant explained, “there are other ways to get funding, you go out for bonds and things like that nature, but we always explore every possible avenue that we can in getting funding outside of that before we go to our citizens to ask for more money”.

As for what will be included in this master plan, Grant says so far the community has given them lots of ideas.

“Trails are huge right now, our rec center is coming up a lot, a skate park has come up, improving some of our facilities, signage… a lot of neat stuff,” Grant said.

The survey for this plan is only open through the month of October, so if you want a say in what Belton does with their parks and recreation click here.

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