Highland Village re-opens Copperas Branch Park

After being off-limits for almost five years, Highland Village’s Copperas Branch Park reopened on Monday.

“The re-opening of Copperas Branch Park is another example of city of Highland Village departments working together to provide an amenity for our residents and visitors to our city,” said Mayor Charlotte Wilcox. “Every department played a part in restoring this park so it can be enjoyed and used once again by our residents.”

In September 2013, Copperas Branch Park was closed and used as construction staging area for the expansion of Interstate 35E, according to a city news release. That expansion has been completed, and the city began preparing the park to re-open in April with a prescribed burn. Five years without maintenance led to substantial overgrowth in the area, so Highland Village firefighters conducted the burn of about 22 acres in the park.

City crews re-installed the boat ramp pier and added new decking, worked with a contractor to patch and seal the parking areas, restored the public restrooms and the facility for use, installed signage and removed dead brush and trees along with general debris clean up, according to a city news release.

All areas of the park are open for public use, except for the beach and swimming area. The city expects the swimming and beach area will open mid-August after the swim-line is installed.

Residents are invited to visit the park from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. at no charge until Aug. 13. After that, the gatehouse pay station will be activated. Cost to enter the park is $10 per vehicle. Annual passes are available at $35 for residents ($25 after July 1) and $20 for residents over 65 ($10 after July 1) and $60 for non-residents. Annual passes can be purchased at The Robert & Lee DuVall Center, 948B Highland Village Road.

Copperas Branch Park has a boat ramp and parking area, swimming and beach area, covered picnic tables, open space, BBQ grills and public restrooms. Minor work will continue over the next several weeks, including the installation of the BBQ grills, bollard repairs and completion of the asphalt access walk over the bar ditch to the field, according to the city.