Big changes are planned at the old Army reserve center — community areas, Flag Pole Hill Trail improvements and more are included in the blueprints.
The five-acre Muchert U.S. Army Reserve Center located on Northwest Highway near Buckner was turned over to the Dallas Park Department in 2009, not before the building, which was controlled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was considered for the housing of homelessness service providers.
Since then, the existing structures (about 30,800 and 6,400 square feet, respectively), previously used as Army Reserve facilities, have remained unused.
At a community meeting held inside the facility last month, the Dallas Park and Recreation Board presented the following proposals for the property:
Before any of this happens, the City must rezone the property, and the Park Department recently filed an application to do so. The Park Department needs a special use permit if they want to use the site for offices and as a service center, and apparently they must go through the permit process just like any non-municipal entity would.
The proposed renovated facility would house the District 1 offices of the DPARD including recreation and leisure services, athletic and reservations, aquatics, environmental and safety and youth services offices as well as community meeting rooms.
“The park maintenance component will not perform on-site maintenance but rather deploy its forces to maintain parkland in the White Rock area,” according to the application. No new buildings would be added, except for a small vehicle storage space. The site would include 141 general parking spaces. Offices would be open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays.
If all goes as planned, construction will occur September 2016-September 2017.
We plan to update after we speak to DPARD staffers. Consider this article a work in progress.
