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In Wimberley, Blue Hole park plan gets boost
State money helps long-awaited improvements move closer to reality.
By Erin Mulvaney
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
With a big shot of new money and a recently hired design contractor, the Blue Hole Regional Park and Preserve in Wimberley is poised to go forward with a master plan to revamp the 126-acre site into a recreational park — a process almost five years in the making.
Blue Hole Regional Park has received $500,000 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to help create hiking trails, soccer fields, tennis courts, primitive camping areas, bank restabilization and picnic areas on the site, which is roughly two-thirds the size of Zilker Park. The City of Wimberley is required to match the state money.
The improvements, scheduled to begin next year, are part of a master plan for the site developed in 2007 by local stakeholders and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Saralee Tiede, spokeswoman for the wildflower center, said the master plan aims to protect the water resource and ecological features, provide educational resources for visitors and integrate the park with other regional resources.
"Blue Hole is an icon," Tiede said of the spring-fed swimming hole in Cypress Creek. "It is one of the most revered swimming holes in the state and the whole region. There are so many people with memories and thoughts of it."
The City of Wimberley acquired the Blue Hole site from a private owner in 2005, after contractors sought to buy and develop the land. The purchase of Blue Hole and the surrounding acreage became a rallying point for the young city, incorporated in 2000.
"The people said no and saved the property from development, developed a plan to save it, and, at the end of the day, it will still be an open space for the public," Wimberley City Administrator Don Ferguson said.
Tim Hogsett, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman, said the money was part of a grant that allotted
$3.5 million to Travis, Williamson and Hays counties to improve city and county parks.
Ferguson said construction of the park will start next year, and the project will be completed within the next three years. The estimated cost for all improvements is about $3 million, Ferguson said.
"The grant will go a long way," he said. "It's another piece of the funding pie for the project, which will take several sources, to allow the city to build the park."
The city commissioned Design Workshop, a Colorado-based landscaping and design firm, in early July to begin planning the development of the site. According to the master plan, the city's goal is to limit impervious cover — such as asphalt, concrete and roofs — to 10 percent or less.
"Currently, we have been creating the survey for the property to understand where the trees are, what condition they are in, the topography of the land and understand the heritage and history of the site," said Steven Spears, a principal with the firm's Austin office. He said they have already found cypress trees on the site that are 500 to 600 years old.
Carolyn Nichols, a former Wimberley City Council member and a board member of Friends of Blue Hole when the city acquired the property, said the community has been behind the park from the beginning.
"Blue Hole has been a swimming hole for hundreds of years and we consider it a Texas treasure," Nichols said. "It has such value for the entire Hill Country."
emulvaney@statesman.com ; 445-3812
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Texas Parks & Wildlife awards $500,000 grant
for Blue Hole development
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission on August 27, 2009, approved a $500,000 grant for development of the Blue Hole Regional Park as part of more than $9 million in competitive parks and recreation grant funding awarded for city and county parks and other sites across the state.
The City of Wimberley was awarded the grant to further develop the 126-acre Blue Hole Regional Park and Preserve, located north east of the Wimberley Square. The Park will include trails, soccer fields, improved swimming access areas, tennis courts, primitive camping areas, picnic tables with slabs, an amphitheatre, pavilion, playscape, an open play meadow, wildlife viewing stations, and interpretive and culture resource signage.
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