Courtesy: HARRA

The consultant team, led by Wallace Roberts and Todd, has created alternative concepts and strategies for the Memorial Park Master Plan. The plans were presented to the general public on Monday, September 9. The meeting was attended by HARRA board members Randy Carlson and Roger Boak. Randy offered the following summary of the presentation.

Presentation Summary
The meeting went well Monday evening. Three different proposals were described and later displayed for closer observation. Two of the proposals were compelling, the third a little extreme. The third called for routing Memorial Dr. up around the Tennis Center and out the East entrance/exit. This way the Park would not be divided by Memorial. To expensive and extreme to fly. The plans all call for a comprehensive set of trails around the Park. Much more than we have today. All trails, except Seymor Lieberman and the Arboretum Trails, will be multi-use trails. Meaning bikes, walkers, runners, and etc. There will be elimination of some trails, both intended and renegade, from areas deemed highly sensitive.

I visited with Rick Deweese (w/Houston Parks & Recreation) this morning and he advised that P&R are going to put the proposals on the Houston Parks Board website (http://www.hpbinc.org) within the next week. The information will then be on the website until the end of September. At that time the comments will be accumulated and studied and a proposal to be sent to the City of Houston. Proposal will be based to a large extent on those comments. He has asked that all interested parties review the proposals and submit their thoughts, the positive as well as the negative. Again, this is a great chance to be heard.

When you see the proposals I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how beneficial some of the proposed changes will to the running community. -- Randy Carlson