Hugo A. Sepúlveda 
Valeria Tokun Haga/THE RIDER
Brownsville is ready to begin a master plan which aims to grow the city’s park system for the next 10 years, according to leadership.
On Tuesday, the Parks and Recreation department presented a draft of the Parks, Health and Recreation Master Plan to the Brownsville City Commission based on input from public meetings the department hosted.
A final master plan draft will be presented to the city commission for its adoption in January.
Sean De Palma, director of Brownsville City Parks and Recreation department, said the last Parks and Recreation Master Plan was about 10 years old and city leadership felt it was a “great time” to renew it.
“We expanded to be Parks, Health and Recreation because the City of Brownsville is really focused on health intertwined with the quality of life of all its citizens,” De Palma said.
He said the planning has been “tremendous” with a great turn out by the citizens’ surveys input.
“We’re excited about it and we know that this master plan is going to have a lot of good information that we can build off of,” De Palma said.
According to the director, all Brownsville parks have different characteristics.
“Some are very older parks and some are modern parks, but … this master plan is going to show us what the deficiency is between our parks, so we can really focus on bringing all of our parks to a very high level,” De Palma said.
He added based on residents’ input, if there are issues in the city’s park system, it will be highlighted in the master plan.
De Palma said with the master plan all city parks will have opportunities to grow.
“At [Charles Martin] Cabler Park, we’re putting a brand new playground apparatus there,” he said. “We’re going to be adding a splash pad and we’re also putting an outdoor fitness court. … So, in the next couple of months that park will have these new amenities.”
The director said once the plan gets approved by the city commission, the department will start to apply it.
“It’s very data-driven, so we’re going to be able to focus on those data points,” De Palma said. “We’re excited about it because that gives us an opportunity to really deliver the service that the citizens are asking for.”
Linda Macias, Brownsville Commissioner District 2, said she is “very excited” about the master plan.
“I’m happy to be part of a commission that is working on the progress and the future of its parks,” Macias said.
She said parks are “essentially very important” because they target multiple aspects such as mental and physical health.
Macias added having a proper documented plan would allow them to go for federal or state grants for the project funding.
The commissioner said she represents 45,000 residents in her district, and it has four parks.
“District 2 does not have enough parks compared to its ratio of population and land,” Macias said.
She said she will “absolutely” look forward to working with the Park and Recreation department and its master plan.
“So, not only are we working on improvements of [Charles Martin] Cabler Park, we are also adding a 2o-to 24-acre park development; this is off Robinhood and Old Port Isabel Road,” Macias said.
She added the city bought the land to “specifically” attack two issues: drainage and lack of parks amenities in the area.
“We do have some concepts of some parks plans,” Macias said. “Just depending on the fundings, we will be adding certain amenities to that area, so this is a great deal.”
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