City of Wimberley hires Design Workshop to design the Blue Hole Regional Park

14 Sept 2009

Wimberley, TX – The City of Wimberley has embarked on an immensely important process that will result in the creation of Blue Hole Regional Park. In July, The City hired the Austin, Texas office of Design Workshop, a landscape architecture firm with seven offices in the US.  The acquisition of 126 acres surrounding the historic Blue Hole on Cypress Creek was instigated by the City to protect and preserve this natural treasure while developing recreational opportunities for the community and future generations. Twenty-six community stakeholders along with Friends of the Blue Hole worked to produce the Blue Hole Regional Park Master Plan in 2007 for the future creation of a park. The completed project will consist of tennis courts, soccer fields, volleyball courts, restroom facilities, bathhouse/office, pavilions, pedestrian areas, playground, picnic areas, trails, primitive camping, amphitheater, environmental and ecological restoration and a natural Blue Hole swimming area.

Ensuring broad community support, the Blue Hole Regional Park must balance usage demands with protection and restoration of the natural landscape, maintain the historic character of the Blue Hole (prevent its urbanization), and create synergy among park activities that link the park to the surrounding region. The park has clearly defined goals and objectives as directed from the Stakeholders, Friends of the Blue Hole and the City of Wimberley. Arranging park improvements in a way that works efficiently for the community and is true to the integrity of the site is the key challenge of this design. Design Workshop's unparalleled experience in recreation-based tourism communities will bring the expertise needed to manage these competing objectives. “The Blue Hole Regional Park will allow for the property to be used in a multi-functional way while protecting the treasured resource of the Blue Hole, one of the last great swimming holes in Central Texas” says Steven Spears, Project Manager and Principal of Design Workshop Austin.