In May, the nonprofit Trust for Public Land released a report that ranked Lubbock 97th of the 100 most populated U.S. cities when parks are compared.
The Trust for Public Land’s annual ParkScore index ranks park systems in the 100 most populous U.S. cities based on five factors: access, equity, acreage, investment, and amenities.
Lubbock, the 84th most populated U.S. city, based on 2023 population estimates, received its highest marks for park acreage, with Lubbock’s median park size being 9.7 acres, above the national ParkScore average of 5.4 acres.
Molly Morgan, the Parks and Schoolyards Director for North Texas Trust for Public Land said from health benefits like lowering anxiety and depression for visitors to the positive economic impacts on nearby neighborhoods, there’s a significant return on investment when it comes to public parks.
“At the forefront, it's a great place for communities to come together, especially in Texas when it's hot in the summer. To go somewhere where there are trees, there are nice amenities, and to get to know one another and be outside.”
However, the city received below-average marks for park access and investment.
Lubbock spends about $52 per person on its park system, below the national ParkScore average of $124 per person. For park access, 52 percent of local residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park, compared to 76 percent nationally.
“There’s great bones for a great park system there,” Morgan said. “Other cities are investing more in their park system in actual dollars. And cities are looking more at bringing more amenities into their park spaces, which are two big determinations in that category.”
Morgan commended Lubbock on the space created by the city’s parks but said the amenities that bring people together, such as splash pads, basketball hoops, and hiking trails, are what tend to increase satisfaction for residents.
“We see that in Dallas, we see that across the board, across the nation, is that acreage is an important factor, but it needs to have the amenities that bring communities together,” Morgan said.
Lubbock’s director of Parks and Recreation, Colby VanGundy, said the city has made increasing investments over his four years leading the department. According to VanGundy, the Parks and Rec Department has been carefully building back since taking a big hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID hurt this department. It really did. I came on right as COVID was ending, and we had to rebuild our entire staff, basically,” VanGundy said.
VanGundy said the renewing potential in Lubbock’s parks started with the master plan, developed in 2021 with the help of Texas Tech University professor and landscape architect Eric Bernard, who also helped develop the ParkScore index system as GIS manager for the Trust for Public Land.
Lubbock’s Parks Department saw the largest investment of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars from the city management, which VanGundy said will reflect in the city’s ParkScore as projects continue to develop.
“The ARPA funding that council did was a $17 million investment in infrastructure, and it had been a long time since that's been done in the parks side of it,” VanGundy said. “That's going to help the scores later on when you see that we added three splash pads, we're adding 12 walking trails, we've added five new restrooms.”
According to the ParkScore index, higher-income neighborhoods showed 6% lower access to parks within a 10-minute walk than lower-income neighborhoods. Due to new housing developments, VanGundy said there is a lack of available space to build parks in areas like south and west Lubbock. But the department is still working on projects on that side of town, like expansion to the Tom Martin Sports Complex near Milwaukee Avenue and 130th Street.
While the Parks Department will help guide the building process, VanGundy said the $8 million expansion was funded with money from Market Lubbock’s economic development.
VanGundy said he’s looking forward to projects in underdeveloped areas close to the city, like Jim Bertram Lake, or Lake Seven, on the outside edge of East Loop 289.
Over the years, the Canyon Lakes that once served as a dumping site have developed into a sign of hope as future surface water sources for the city, and a demonstration of what the South Plains can bring in scenic views and wildlife.
VanGundy said allowing parks into the Canyon Lake system before homes are built represents an essential opportunity for Lubbock’s parks and quality of life.
“Lake Seven is going to be a big thing for this department, that potential of being able to have a linear park system before development comes, before anything else is there,” VanGundy said. “I'm very excited about it, I think it's going to be something that will shape this department for many, many years down the road.”
While Lake Seven is still far from completion, VanGundy said another Parks development he’s looking forward to in the southeast side of Lubbock is expanding the Mae Simmons bike trails system that offers an even closer escape from the city.
“You would never think that you're in Lubbock, Texas,” VanGundy said. “One of the things that I'm looking forward to, that's going to be quicker than the big Lake Seven, is the expansion of the trail system that we have; our mountain bike trails are amazing.”
Like the ParkScore, VanGundy said the master plan is a tool that will guide his department in these projects over the next ten years, with chances to reassess what the department’s priorities should be, and what the citizens want for their parks.
Inside the city, the closure of public pools has been a significant point of concern, bringing calls for action from citizens all the way to the city council.
VanGundy said while some facilities like Clapp Pool at 46th Street and Avenue U lasting as long as they did is something to applaud, the elements that started to fall apart presented an inefficiency in the water requirement, but more importantly, an increasing safety hazard.
“Clapp pool, when we went in there, lost 85% of its water just by itself, without us pumping, without us doing anything,” VanGundy said. “But the biggest issue that I had for Clapp was the safety of our staff.”
VanGundy said while the steps couldn’t come together for Clapp Pool repairs before Lubbock’s hot summer hit, many younger citizens have been excited for the new splash pads that opened in July. Still, he says Lubbock will need more in the future as the city grows.
“These splash pads are such a neat thing, and we want to continue to build them around town, but we do know that we need aquatics facilities,” Van Gundy said. “Now, how we get there is up to the elected officials.”
As the time draws nearer for city leaders to decide on budget plans for the next fiscal year, proposals from the city council have shifted from a $325,000 plan providing repairs at Clapp Pool that would be temporarily functional and safe for workers, to longer-term investments that could mean better quality-of-life improvements in the future.
In Tuesday’s budget work session, Mayor Mark McBrayer and District 3’s council representative, David Glasheen, presented budget proposals that could level or reduce Lubbock’s tax rate. These plans included cutting costs from the temporary repairs at Clapp Pool.
City Council representative for District 5, Dr. Jennifer Wilson, also proposed cutting the Clapp Pool repairs, but she added there should be a more thoughtful focus on the future when it comes to the city’s finances.
“I think all of us are in the consensus that Clapp Pool needs to be not dropping that $325,000 into something we don't know that's going to work, and we can start moving forward looking at other quality-of-life funding in the future,” Wilson said.
Wilson cited another recent decision from the council on a highly valued quality-of-life service: the vote to renew the three-year lease for Godeke Library on Frankford Avenue. Wilson said renting the library’s property has held an ongoing cost over the city that can’t be maintained at a time when city leaders are looking for every chance to save money.
Wilson stressed that the change doesn’t mean the city should be without libraries, especially in the south and west sides of Lubbock, where Godeke is the closest library many residents have.
“We cannot continue to rent and just sink taxpayer money into rent. We need to move that to a city-owned facility that we can maintain and that we're not just dumping empty dollars into the trash can,” Wilson said. “but we've got to have a plan to do that.”
Budget proposals included a line item for $100,000 that would go toward developing a more permanent, city-owned facility for Godeke Library. Wilson said investing in that plan would help keep the city fiscally responsible over the next three years while a decision is made for the library’s next home.
“I want to make sure that we have a good plan moving forward over the next couple of years so we can figure out how to save the money and actually have a plan before we reach that three-year end of that lease,” Wilson said. “We'll know exactly what that's going to look like, the exact dollar amount that we need, and we can start saving.”
District 6 representative Tim Collins pointed to another cut in McBrayer and Glasheen’s budget proposals that would reduce funds for Market Lubbock, alongside a $500,000 cut to the organization already in the current budget plan. But his worry is further in the future when the lower tax rate could make budgeting for quality-of-life programs and small business incentives in the city more complicated.
“We've taken a large cut this year, and because of this future obligation that we're looking at, that organization, or parks or libraries or whatever the case may be, could be forced into another cut,” Collins said. “In part because we set our budget this year so close to the max, or somewhere near the bottom, and then we're handcuffed to what we can raise it next year.”
Collins said he agrees that keeping the budget tight is the right thing to do, but he’s concerned about the unknowns that may come with setting the lowest possible tax rate, a move that could “handcuff” future budgets by lowering the maximum rate that the council could set without a vote, despite expectations for Lubbock’s population, and expenses, to continue growing.
“I just think it's very important that we be very cautious about setting a number today that we can't live up to next year," Collins said.
According to Collins, the cut to Market Lubbock funding fails to support the small-business incentives from the organization that encourage sales tax revenues for the city in return for the money invested, as well as new facilities and marketing to bring people into Lubbock.
“Keep in mind, Market Lubbock has funded soccer fields. Market Lubbock has funded new baseball fields,” Collins said. “Those are things that we have to think about in the quality of life of our community.”
Over in the Parks Department, Director VanGundy is optimistic about what parks will contribute to the quality of life will look like in Lubbock going forward.
“To build our department, we want to take that in steps, so we have. And I hope that continues. We do have a long way to go, and there's definitely room for improvement, I don't know that we'll ever get out of being able to say there's room for improvement,” VanGundy said. “So I'm happy where the department's going.”
Recent budget discussions at the city council saw the Parks Department operating budget could increase by 2.5% under current proposals.
Final public discussions for the city’s budget plans will take place at city council meetings on September 3 and September 10.