From Houston To North Texas: How MUD Park Bonds Are Redefining Master-Planned Developments

Texas is seeing tremendous expansion in the suburbs due to municipal utility districts, or MUDs. These are special districts that finance essential infrastructure such as sewers, drainage and roads for master-planned communities.

To help accelerate development in these communities, there has been a push to increase park and recreational bonds, which are voted on and funded by residents to help build parks and trails. For two decades, TBG Partners, a Texas-based urban planning and landscape architecture firm, has strategically leveraged park and recreational bonds to enhance and elevate development throughout the Houston region.

TBG President Bill Odle said MUD park and recreational bonds provide a strategic financial mechanism for developers to enhance the scope of community amenities. He explained that by incorporating park and recreational bond reimbursements directly into their pro formas, developers can allocate significantly more capital toward parks, trails and open spaces than would be feasible under standard financing models.

“This incentive structure directly correlates to a higher standard of quality and a greater quantity of recreational infrastructure, delivering community assets that might otherwise be scaled back or omitted entirely,” Odle said.

The Success Of Park And Recreational Bonds Across Houston 

One of TBG's collaborators is Allen Boone Humphries Robinson, a law firm specializing in infrastructure development. The firm has helped push MUD projects forward across the Houston region by providing legal counsel. 

ABHR urban development and finance planning partner Steve Robinson said that to incentivize park development, parks must be accessible to the general public while also providing premium amenities to make the area more attractive. ABHR took the lead in drafting this legislation for MUDs in the Houston region.

“We didn't have the legal authority to start building with park bonds until we made a constitutional amendment and adopted a set of rules to put guardrails on exactly what could be built for public and open spaces,” he said. 

One example is a 5,700-acre master-planned community called Cinco Ranch, just 30 minutes outside downtown Houston. The initial development was built without park and recreational bonds in 1991. When talks of building a park to help beautify the area for new residents came 20 years later, ABHR and TBG made this vision come together.

“In 2011, we held an election, and the voters approved $30M in bonds to build a 30-acre recreation park, with a large lake, outdoor picnic areas and 30 miles of new trail along thoroughfares and drainage channels,” Robinson said. “What it really allowed for is an older community to now look like it was built today.”

TBG was the landscape architect and helped build multiple parks in Cinco Ranch, including Exploration Park, an award-winning playground designed to help teach children about the importance of water conservation. 

Another frequent collaborator with TBG is Texas-based master-planned community developer Hillwood Communities, which has developed many projects over the past decade using park and recreational bonds.

Mark Meyer, director of planning and innovation at Hillwood, oversees many of the firm's major projects. He said that two decades ago, Houston began utilizing park and recreational bonds to convert bayous and detention basins into a vibrant network of parks and trails.

“These tools have helped developers get reimbursed for amenitizing these spaces while incentivizing them to create better walkability and adding real estate value to nearby homes,” he said.

Hillwood is working with TBG on a master-planned community 20 miles south of Houston called Pomona, featuring green spaces and a “live smart” design approach focused on residential connection and sustainability. 

Odle sees North Texas as the next region poised to implement park and recreational bonds. 

Challenges Facing Park And Recreational Bonds In North Texas 

Odle said TBG is leveraging its extensive experience with MUD park and recreational bonds in the Houston region to accelerate progress and drive similar initiatives across North Texas.

“Our goal is to help North Texas developers navigate the complexities of the park bond process,” he said. “By effectively utilizing these financial tools, we aim to elevate the quality and reach of parks, trails and open spaces across the region.”

Robinson said Dallas is facing an affordable housing crisis, making park development difficult because developers are prioritizing using the funds they have to build homes. 

Amid rising infrastructure costs, there needs to be more incentive to encourage a community to be built, he said.

“Where this really moves the needle is at the entry-level housing, where every penny matters to a developer,” Robinson said. “If those projects can be incentivized to have better parks and trails, there'll be better communities.”

He said that if the math works and North Texas can get a constitutional amendment for park and recreational bonds, this process can be replicated there.

Hillwood’s latest 3,200-acre project, Landmark, which is in the Denton area, part of the DFW Metroplex, is dedicating 1,000 acres for open spaces and parks. Meyer said he hopes future park bonds can be incorporated into building these spaces.

“As part of our agreement, we will build, design, maintain and dedicate these city parks, but park and recreational bonds would go a really long way in helping us take these spaces to the next level,” he said. 

What Impact Could Park And Recreational Bonds Have On North Texas?

Meyer said that while it is costly to build park systems, they can be more impactful and have more generational value than a building or a house. From an economic standpoint, Dallas parks contribute nearly $678M a year in economic value to its citizens. 

Meyer added that parks are “more than just extras.” They are essential amenities that improve quality of life and promote community engagement.

“There's so much more in communities than just infrastructure,” he said. “There’s also social gathering and social wellness. Having park bonds gives us the ability to do that.” 

TBG aims to build upon its track record in the Houston region by collaborating with MUD attorneys and local developers to advocate for park and recreational bond legislation and advancement in North Texas.

“By highlighting the proven value and impact of park and recreational bonds, supported by numerous successful examples from the Houston region, we seek to bring greater awareness to our state legislators and champion policy that supports stronger, more vibrant community amenities,” Odle said. 

This article was produced in collaboration between TBG Partners and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.