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By Colin Killian, Public Communications Director
In case you missed it: At its July 9 meeting, the College Station City Council heard the biannual update from Parks and Recreation Director Kelsey Heiden about the department’s recent achievements, vital statistics, and major milestones.
Here’s a summary:
Key Statistics (2025 data)
- Infrastructure & Staff: The City manages 57 developed parks, 42 miles of walking trails, and employs 72 full-time and 192 part-time staff [01:19].
- Community Engagement: Over 3 million park visits were recorded in 2025, led by major hubs such as Veterans Park and Stephen C. Beachy Central Park [02:53]. The system also accommodated over 6,000 facility/field rentals and hosted 23 tournaments [00:59].
- Accolades: College Station achieved its 36th consecutive "Tree City USA" award (including a Growth Award for tree-planting initiatives) and remains CAPRA-accredited (a standard held by only 32 of Texas's 1,200+ municipalities) [01:57].
Active and Completed Projects
- Recently Completed: Projects include the Brian Bachmann Community Park Little League buildings, the Central Park operations shop, five new playgrounds, and the completion of Summit Crossing Park [03:15].
- In Progress: Current initiatives include the John Crompton playground replacement (set for September construction), Adamson Lagoon slide replacement, and major redevelopment plans for the Lincoln Recreation Center and Mabel Clare Thomas Park [03:54].
- Cemetery Expansion: Due to high demand, the Aggie Field of Honor is sold out of columbarium niches. Staff is actively planning a 360-space columbarium addition and reviewing cemetery policies [04:19], [23:45].
Program Highlights
- Cooling College Station: Planted 484 irrigated trees across parks and distributed 1,450 native trees to residents [05:16].
- Recreation & Aquatics: Served 36,000 public swimmers at local pools [08:32], managed hundreds of adult and youth sports teams [09:02] and accommodated 992 summer camp registrations [09:38].
- I Heart America Fourth of July Celebration: Attracted a record 13,648 attendees, utilizing over 50 city employees, 1,267 gallons of complimentary water, and 4,111 fireworks [13:04].
About the Blogger
Colin Killian has been with the City of College Station since 2010 after serving 23 years as the associate media relations director for the Texas A&M Athletics Department. He has also worked as a reporter and editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and Lewisville News. A native of Hobbs, N.M., Killian graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/political science.
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