Agenda

Return

10.

City Council Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:

09/07/2021

BACKGROUND

Gutierrez Xeriscape Park is located at 1231 Borgfeld Road and was donated to the City of Schertz by the Gutierrez Family in 1998. The 2-acre park features multiple garden areas beautifully maintained by the Guadalupe Master Gardeners volunteer groups, a gazebo area that is ideal for photo opportuniites, and a shaded and lighted walking trail. Since the original park donation, the Master Gardeners have spent significant labor hours developing and maintaining additional landscaping bed featuring many different species of flowering plants. The Master Gardeners recommended removing the term "xeriscape" from the park name and substituting it with the term "garden" instead. Xeriscape means low water but many associate the term to gardens with cactus and rocks. While the plants at Gutierrez are low water, they are hardy Texas varieties that are flowering plants, and so the term xeriscape was not recommended as a good fit for this park. City staff were also contacted by members of the Gutierrez family and they had no issues with replacing the term "xeriscape" with "garden." The Parks & Recreation Advisory Board discussed the request for a name change at their meeting on July 26, 2021 and recommended approval to rename Gutierrez Xeriscape Park to Gutierrez Garden Park.

GOAL

Approve Resolution No. 21-R-86.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT

The renaming of Gutierrez Xeriscape Park to Gutierrez Garden Park is a better fit for the park as it exists today with all of the addtional landscaping that the Master Gardeners have added over the years.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION

Approval of Resolution No. 21-R-86.

FISCAL IMPACT

There is no fiscal impact related to this name change. The current wooden sign with historical and biographical information will remain at the park per the Gutierrez' family's request. When a new sign is required per its maintenance life, we will create a separate interpretive sign with all of the historical and biographical information on it similar to what we have done at Mary Whitfield Burks Park, Wendy Swan Memorial Park, and Johnie McDow Sports Complex.

RECOMMENDATION

Approval of Resolution No. 21-R-86.

Attachments
Resolution 21-R-86 Renaming Gutierrez Park