Manor’s Secret Park

It’s beautiful. Take the kids. Take the dawg. Woodlands Park. The real deal.

The sign has been changed thanks to my urging. Noone should be in this park after dark. New hours are “til dusk.”

This is a City Park. It’s not a “Nature Preserve” as many would have you believe. Yes, we want to protect it. But, we also want to USE IT!

These same people would have you believe there’s no parking on the streets in ShadowGlen. Per Manor Police Chief, Ryan Phipps - these are PUBLIC ROADS. Anyone who doesn’t own a house in SG can park anywhere they want! Of course, don’t block any of the driveways, park in the direction of traffic, and keep your tires within 18” of the curb.

I’d like to put a small parking lot just inside the City Limits which would provide for Handicap Access parking as well as for the buses of school kids that should be having field trips to learn about nature and human’s place in it.

It’s a mulch trail which is not so great for wheelchairs, but note that wheelchairs only account for about 20% of all Handicap Placards on vehicles. The balance includes people with high blood pressure, heart conditions, blindness, deafness, Alzheimers, Dimentia, knee problems, etc.

It’s genuine nature which means there are rattlesnakes, and other varmints. Flash flooding is a risk. These and other noteworthy issues need to be displayed prominenty near the entrance to the Howdy Way one-mile Nature Trail. This is part of the learning experience... it’s quiet. You can hear the birds. You can hear the wind in the trees. Take a breath. Take a deep breath.

We need many benches. A few picnic tables and maybe some exercise points along the trail. I’d like to add some dinosaur bones for kids to uncover, and a Tribal Meadow for drum circles. How about a challenging dirt bike trail to go along with the other approx. 5 miles of trails promised since 2003.

(with adequate parking & entry access.)

Note: SG residents aren’t allowed to park on the streets there. They will have to park at the SG Elementary School one-half mile away until we get the parking lot done.

Nice Place for a NEW DOWNTOWN? - Manor Crossing includes Home Depot and HEB. City gave $20,000,000 of 380 Incentives over 20 YRS. ~ Monarch Ranch also required by Codes to have PLAZA.

It took me a year to get this sign changed. New sign includes “City of Manor” Park and improved hours. It’s only open until dusk now... for obvious safety reasons!

This is a nice little park. Lion’s Club built the Gazebo and Canopy along with the Water Fountain. Veteran’s Wall has been installed.

The lawn is nice, but rarely used. How about:

1. Pickleball

2. Shuffleboard

3. Sand Volleyball

4. Kiddie Playground in place

5. Canopy & Picnic Tables (more)

6. Grills

7. Restroom Sidewalk for ADA

8. Farmers Market

9. Washers Pits and Benches

10. Balls and Paddles, Shuffleboard eqpt Gets “checked out” from nearby City Hall

Psst. Zoom way, way in.

Note all the street names.

Anybody see any benches? I don’t. With the exception of the half-basketball court for some people, why would your kids want to come here as it is now?

I only just realized that every street in Bell Farms is named after a Bell. Therefore, I think we need to have some bells and musical sculpture that is interactive. No, we don’t want louds bells all day and night - but we (kids and adults) can still have fun with sound and wind and mallets.

Also: Splash Pad w shade, Community Garden w shed, Horshoes, Big and small Dog Run, benches, lights, fruit trees.

The City of Manor owns all the land inside this blue outline. The North end could be a great spot for tennis courts, including volleyball, badminton and pickleball by using an adjustable net. Due to the proximaty of the neighbors, I think no lights. The lighted pickleball courts for night time play would be at Jennie Lane Park.

City of Manor owns both sections.

It’s funny how things can evolve... I started this out as batting cages, But they’re kinda expensive so I thought “hey, let’s do a manual version.” You hit the balls and then you go gather them up... as long as we’re practicing - let’s add some bases and pitchers mound. Let’s add a fence so we don’t have to chase the balls!

And hey, why not make it for little leagues, women’s fast pitch softball and major leaguers too! It only takes up about 1/4 of the space of a full-size baseball field. Since we got a fence, let’s put markings on it to be targets for doubles, triples and home runs.

Well, why don’t we create a game to use all these bases... (drum roll please)

So I invented “7-Base Baseball” and filed for a patent.

You get extra points for touching extra bases. Teams are 7 people. 3 balls = a walk. 4 outs in an inning. A home run could be 7 runs PLUS a point for each base tagged over the normal four bases. Players can run diagonally. Imagine the four-person infield trying to cope with all these base runners.

It would be nice to have this gorgeous painted fence, or even a fence with L.E.D. lights, but simple outlines could work too. We can use rain gutters to funnel the balls to certain areas for pickup. We could even turn this into a GOLF driving range.

Radio Control vehicles teach lots of STEM skills and bring people together!

Track is Manor City Roads!

Radio Controlled Boats can be used at Bell Farms South Park pond; or at Timmermann Park North End pond.

Alternately, this space could be used for Soccer, Lacrosse, Field Hockey & Rugby.