Boys Ranch Park & Activity Center
Since 2002, Kimley-Horn has provided a wide range of services to the City of Bedford for the development of the Boys Ranch Park & Activity Center in Texas.
Located in northeast Tarrant County near DFW Airport, the 60-acre Bedford Boys Ranch Park is the largest community park in the City of Bedford. The park serves the community by providing access to a pond, trails, playgrounds, sports fields, senior center, arts building, family aquatic center, and community recreation center. The master plan for this project consisted of redesigning the internal park roadways, permitting improvements to the pond with the USACE, expanding parking areas, and providing additional amenities and activities for the residents of Bedford.
The City’s main goals were to improve the overall drainage and appearance of the existing pond and drainage channel, improve pedestrian linkage to the surrounding neighborhoods, improve the internal pedestrian and vehicular circulation, expand the parking areas, and enhance the quality of life and community image. To gain consensus with the community, Kimley-Horn worked with the City to provide public involvement during the master planning process that included multiple public meetings and ranking of desired park amenities. The process resulted in a phased master plan for the park that included $20-$25 million in park improvements to be developed in multiple phases over the next 10-15 years. Kimley-Horn assisted the city staff with presentations to council as well as preparation of plans and a 3-D visualization to gain support in the community and help obtain approval for the sale of bonds to begin the
initial design and construction of Phase I.
The Phase I design included the reshaping and dredging of the pond and drainage channel in an effort to improve the visual and environmental quality of the bodies of water as well as the functionality of the drainage system. Kimley-Horn drainage engineers worked with environmental specialists to complete a design that met the objectives of the City as well as the requirements of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Additional park improvements developed in Phase I included the internal trail network, pavilions, fishing piers, overlooks, pedestrian bridges, playgrounds, shade structures, and associated infrastructure improvements. The total cost of Phase I was approximately $3.5 million and was completed in July 2016. The Bedford Boys Ranch Project combined park master planning, drainage engineering, roadway planning, and landscape architecture to design a crown jewel park for the City of Bedford. By helping to create excitement for the project and working hard to get competitive bidding of Phase I, the City was able to harness the momentum of this project and then selected Kimley-Horn to help plan for the bond election to fund the next phase in November of 2017.