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Goal Park: New Park On The Columbia Tap Trail


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This is awesome news. I presume that the park will stretch from Emancipation to where the trail bends to cross McKinney. That's already a pleasant stretch, but this will make it fantastic! I hope the World Cup brings even more great new development like this, just like the last two Super Bowls did.

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4 hours ago, pablog said:

Looks like they’re working on a new park on the Columbia Tap Trail at the corner of PNC Stadium. To be open by the 2026  World Cup.

Public engagement meeting will take place in January 2023!

www.goalpark.org

Their Instagram posts go back to 2017, so I'd definitely temper my expectations. I would imagine the other proposed linear park down Bastrop would be moving at a quicker pace than this one.

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This group's proposal is admirable, but I wonder how they plan to coordinate with the myriad stakeholders? Unlike other hike-and-bike trails that sit on the property of one or two entities, it's my understanding Columbia Tap Trail property owners include METRO, CoH, Midtown Redevelopment Authority, TSU, churches, the Houston Housing Authority, HISD, the Houston Land Bank, and Harris County.

Good luck to them, though. 

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21 hours ago, phillip_white said:

Their Instagram posts go back to 2017, so I'd definitely temper my expectations. I would imagine the other proposed linear park down Bastrop would be moving at a quicker pace than this one.

That might be the case but Houston, nor the US had the 2026 World Cup back in 2017. Landing hosting duties earlier this year likely changes things and might have revived this project. Maybe new ownership (Ted Segal) and its reinvestment into the Dynamo/Dash and PNC Stadium renovations possibly contributed as well. Their timeline clearly state’s community engagement meetings begin in January so we’ll see. 

The other linear park on Bastrop (East End Promenade) you speak of has long been completed, albeit at a scaled down version from the original vision. 

Edited by tigereye
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2 hours ago, JClark54 said:

This group's proposal is admirable, but I wonder how they plan to coordinate with the myriad stakeholders? Unlike other hike-and-bike trails that sit on the property of one or two entities, it's my understanding Columbia Tap Trail property owners include METRO, CoH, Midtown Redevelopment Authority, TSU, churches, the Houston Housing Authority, HISD, the Houston Land Bank, and Harris County.

Good luck to them, though. 

Per the linked website, Goal Park is only 7 blocks of the Columbia Tap Trail, not the whole thing.  So most of the entities you listed are not involved or impacted (it appears almost very few of them would be)

Edited by Houston19514
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44 minutes ago, tigereye said:

That might be the case but Houston, nor the US had the 2026 World Cup back in 2017. Landing hosting duties earlier this year likely changes things and might have revived this project. Maybe new ownership (Ted Segal) and its reinvestment into the Dynamo/Dash and PNC Stadium renovations possibly contributed as well. Their timeline clearly state’s community engagement meetings begin in January so we’ll see. 

The other linear park on Bastrop (East End Promenade) you speak of has long been completed, albeit at a scaled down version from the original vision. 

Bastrop Promenade has only completed the first of several phases. EDRA has this project under the "update, work authorizations and advertisements for bid" section of their most recent (9/19/22) board meeting. Here are some renderings of the next planned scope of work:

1625001786090.jpeg?w=2000

1625002016343.jpeg?w=2000

In pulling these pics, I actually came across another proposed project for the same boundaries as this "Goal Park."

Untitled1 Untitled2

 

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maybe I'm a selfish cyclist, but I'd like to see the dedicated paths like Columbia Tap Trail not be coopted into a park. keep it a safe (read off the streets and away from cars) path for people to get where they need to go on a bicycle.

it's bad enough I have to dodge people using it as a dog walking path.

I'd like to see Bastrop park be completed, and I think there's a lot of other land in the area that can be turned into a city park for the near east end that doesn't take from a safe commuting path for cyclsts.

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2 hours ago, samagon said:

maybe I'm a selfish cyclist, but I'd like to see the dedicated paths like Columbia Tap Trail not be coopted into a park. keep it a safe (read off the streets and away from cars) path for people to get where they need to go on a bicycle.

it's bad enough I have to dodge people using it as a dog walking path.

I'd like to see Bastrop park be completed, and I think there's a lot of other land in the area that can be turned into a city park for the near east end that doesn't take from a safe commuting path for cyclsts.

What they should do is just isolate the cycling lane with a fence or hedgerow in between it and the park part. Then make the entrances to the cycle lane only at the street sidewalk.

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Bicyclists' message to automobile drivers is "share the road." So it seems kind of entitled to demand full rights to a hike and bike trail. I would rather shout "on your left" to a walker than deal with cars and delivery vehicles parked in a bike lane. Bikes and pedestrians should be teaming up in most cases.

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6 hours ago, samagon said:

maybe I'm a selfish cyclist, but I'd like to see the dedicated paths like Columbia Tap Trail not be coopted into a park. keep it a safe (read off the streets and away from cars) path for people to get where they need to go on a bicycle.

it's bad enough I have to dodge people using it as a dog walking path.

I'd like to see Bastrop park be completed, and I think there's a lot of other land in the area that can be turned into a city park for the near east end that doesn't take from a safe commuting path for cyclsts.

This is the time to share those concerns with the people planning this, not after it's designed and ready to start construction.  ;-)

https://www.goalpark.org/#wf-form-Feedback-and-Community-Engagement-Form

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On 11/30/2022 at 10:17 AM, bookey23 said:

This is awesome news. I presume that the park will stretch from Emancipation to where the trail bends to cross McKinney. That's already a pleasant stretch, but this will make it fantastic! I hope the World Cup brings even more great new development like this, just like the last two Super Bowls did.

Here's to hoping they can fix the montrose bridge lights by then...😀

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  • The title was changed to Goal Park: New Park On The Columbia Tap
  • 2 months later...

The Goal Park event was interesting. The group behind it already has initial funding commitments from area businesses to further study the area. Gallegos spoke for a short period and said the group has approached the city about city ROW usage and city/TIRZ upkeep support. He wished them well, if that means anything. 

Group hopes to raise money from private sources so there's no limitation on space utilization, but they will seek grant monies to make it happen.

Takeaways were the width of the usable area is wider than NYC's high line, but the street crossings are more frequent than any other park of this style, which is not a deal breaker but a challenge. Want to create natural raises in elevation so people can walk to the loading docks on some of the warehouses, if those spaces turn into retail. 

Landscape architecture firm that spoke and made the presentation is Bowman: https://bowman.com 

IMG_5494.heic IMG_5492.heic IMG_5493.heic

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  • 1 month later...

Goal Park uploaded the following presentation to the website which includes all the design strategies for the park.

The construction you see happening is relating to the TIRZ 15 Fitness Area. This was approved before Goal Park was brought to the table, but the two parties are working together to see how it can be integrated into the design.

The master plan should be coming out soon.

Goal Park Presentation

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