The start date for construction of the planned Blue Hole Nature Center has been pushed back to pursue additional grant funding from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Wimberley Parks and Recreation Department has already secured $3M in funding from Hays County, of which they have received $250,000, and $750,000 from TPWD.
ON May 1, Wimberley Parks and Recreation will submit an application for an additional $1.5M grant from TWPD. Winners of the grant will be announced in January 2027. If awarded, construction of the Nature Center will begin Summer 2027.
Planning for the park’s Nature Center is currently in the design development stage. Public input and a cost-aligned redesign was completed in 2025. On May 15, based on staff’s recommendation, Wimberley City Council voted to award the contract for the design and project management to Lake Flato and Lionheart.
Designed to be a One Water facility, the center aims to create a hub for environmental education in the Texas Hill Country with interactive classrooms, a greenhouse, an aquarium, an “adventure play area,” and restored wetland and prairie areas.
Wimberley Parks and Recreation Director Erica Flocke told city council members last week that “We have a very good chance of getting the grant which is why we have pushed back the construction date.”
In February, city council approved the department’s selection of Kompan to build the new playground at Martha Knies Community Park.
Wimberley city council also approved the consulting firm of Kimley-Horn in the February 19 meeting to conduct an Aquatic Feasibility Study to evaluate the possible development of an aquatic facility in Wimberley.
While the Parks and Recreation advisory board voted 7-0 in February to not move forward with the study, city council members urged the department to proceed.
Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Minnick said during the meeting that the community has been asking for the study even before she began sitting on the city council dais seven years ago. “I think it’s important to pay attention to what the residents want, but they won’t know the answers to all of the questions without the necessary experts.”
Part of the community’s push for the study has been to determine if the city can help support a local facility for the Wimberley High School swim team because they are currently transported to Dripping Springs every day for practice.
Mayor Jim Chiles told Flocke during the meeting that “The school district is interested in being a partner and the city will take care of the cost of the feasibility study.”
In addition the above projects, Parks and Rec is implementing a new trail wayfinding system for park trails, using in-house design and fabrication.
“Our amazing maintenance team has been digging holes in the solid rock of the park for the new signs,” said Flocke. “That project is about a third of the way completed.”
