White Rock Lake. Photography by Danny Fulgencio.
Community members shared concerns about plans for maintaining White Rock Lake Park at a recent public input meeting.
The meeting, hosted by Dallas Park and Recreation at Winfrey Point on July 18, was moderated by representatives from Dunaway, the consultant hired to consolidate past plans about the park and update language.
The goal for the project is to create a single document to serve as a reference for maintaining the park and outline park priorities and associated costs. But the new plan will not eliminate the need for past plans, said Philip Neeley, a senior equipment manager associate at Dunaway, nor will it be all-encompassing. For example, the plan will not get into specifics about dredging.
“We’re not trying to just wipe the marker board clean and start over,” Neeley said.
Representatives with the consulting firm provided an overview of past plans regarding the lake. Those include: the Lake White Rock Park Master Plan (1936); Lake White Rock Master Plan (1939); Biologic Survey of White Rock Lake (1942); Management Plan for White Rock Lake (1987); A Master Pan for the Implementation of the 1987 Management Plan (1990); Shoreline Tree Enhancement (1991); White Rock Lake Park Design Guidelines (1994); White Rock Lake Diagnostic Study (1996); White Rock Lake Master Plan — Rendered Graphic (assumed 1999); White Rock Lake – Gifts for the Future (2002); Design Guidelines – Reflection Point at Lakewood Pedestrian Gateway (2003); Environmental Graphic Design Development Package (2003); White Rock Lake Park Lighting Master Plan and Design Guidelines (2009); and the White Rock Lake Park Operations & Maintenance Plan (2022).
“Our intent is to try to draw as much relevance as we can from those plans, create a new one, versus working out of something that’s 24 years old, and then be able to use that as the primary reference tool,” Neeley said.
Longtime White Rock Lake Task Force member Michael Jung noted that some plans, including a 1986 vehicular circulation plan and a 2002 signage plan, were not included in the presentation. But Neeley said that they did not feature every plan they have on their master list.
Some meeting attendees, including White Rock Lake Task Force chair Susan Falvo, asked that Flag Pole Hill be included in the consultant’s consideration, and the consultants said they didn’t have a problem doing that.
Several members of the audience also wanted to make sure that there would be additional opportunities for community input. The consultants said they would attend the White Rock Lake Task Force meeting at 4 p.m. Aug. 8 at Winfrey Point. They also said they would have more community input meetings throughout the process.
Others said they wanted to preserve native prairie land and wildlife as well as historical sites. Attendees shared concerns about safety, vehicles driving on pedestrian trails, a lack of trash and recycling containers, irrigation, lighting, erosion and dedicated lanes for bikes and pedestrians.
Take this survey to provide input on the master plan. The consultant will develop a conceptual plan from August to September and then begin the preliminary master plan and design standards in October and November. The final master plan and report is slated to be completed by December, but Neeley said the process will likely seep into the first quarter of 2024.
