Parks are built in two ways: 1) as a City project, or 2) by the Developer on behalf of the City. Early on, before streets are constructed and school sites are identified, the home developer has a choice to build the park on behalf of the City or to allow the City to build the park. If the City builds the park, we follow a set of criteria that helps establish priorities across the city.
This includes consideration of: 1) Location (does this area have access to a park nearby?)
2) Absorption (Are 75% of the homes the park is to serve occupied?) and available development funding (Have we collected sufficient funds to build the park?)
3) Long term maintenance funding (Is this a general fund impact? If so, can the City afford to add this to the general fund obligation?) If the Developer elects to build the park, they do so up-front. This is where you will see some parks built much sooner than others. Either way, park development funds are collected through new home sales.