This Environmental Design Master Plan presents strategies and recommendations to help the Five Corners District strengthen its identity as a beautiful, safe and attractive place to live, shop, work and invest in. The plan has been developed with the support of community members, business owners and other stakeholders, with the goal of envisioning how the district can best create an environment that builds on the district’s assets as well as anticipates, guides and encourages this future development. The plan includes concepts for new development, mobility, parks and open space, landscaping, and branding. Through engagement efforts, including community meetings, stakeholder workshops, and business surveys, a set of goals was established to guide the master plan development and ensure a well-rounded approach to future improvements by the Five Corners District.

Using these goals as a starting point, the project team sought to understand the unique challenges and opportunities within the District in order to craft recommendations to meet the District’s goals and vision.

GOALS

Working with community members and other stakeholders, a set of four goals have been developed for the project. The goals are:

1. Develop an appealing identity for Five Corners District to help attract investment and partnership with the management district.
2. Celebrate and connect district assets by prioritizing projects according to existing area investments and planned growth.
3. Promote walking and bicycling through infrastructure and design that can be supported by local organizations and programs.
4. Create a vision for future development of commercial, recreational, and civic activity that is to be promoted and supported by the Five Corners District.

The District has over 480 acres of parks and greenspaces. With walking trails, playgrounds and other amenities, the District is a great place to call home.

Sims Bayou Greenway Improvements

In 2017, the Houston Parks Board built a greenway with a 10-foot wide trail between Hillcroft Avenue and Heatherbrook Drive, with connections into the Windsor Village neighborhoods and Blue Ridge County Park.

After completing construction of the greenway, Houston Parks Board worked with community members, the City of Houston District K Office and others to identify additional opportunities to improve the greenway, and add amenities, trailheads and gateways.

Over the past year, the Houston Parks Board has:

• Installed two sets of trash/recycling receptacles to encourage proper waste disposal
• Installed two benches for seating
• Painted trail edge stripes under the Fort Bend Tollway to ensure cyclists know the path to follow
• Installed bollards at Croquet, Blueridge Park, and Heatherbrook to help deter unauthorized vehicles and ATVs from using the greenway
• Planted wildflower seed to create meadows and habitat along the bayou

In the coming months, new improvements include (see attached map, numbers correspond to the map):

• West of the toll road: A new 6-foot wide trail connection overlooking a detention basin at Blue Ridge County Park, three new benches and a new trash can and recycling receptacle is now complete.
• East of the toll road: A new seating area east of the toll road with one bench along the existing greenway is now complete.
• A new overlook and seating area along the greenway between Blue Ridge County Park and Croquet Street, which will include a new 6-foot wide semi-circle, secondary trail and a decorative crawfish design. Complementing the new secondary trail will be a bench, educational signage, trash can, and recycling receptacle is being completed now as on 5/17/19.
• A new gateway at Croquet Street, between the bayou and the parking lot for Windsor United Methodist Church, which will include a decorative Eastern Gray Squirrel design, a bench educational signage, trash can, and recycling receptacle is being completed now as of 5/17/19.
• Ongoing maintenance of the new amenities, overlook and gateway, including weekly trash pickup, bi-weekly mowing, trail upkeep and flood cleanup of the trail.

Construction is estimated to be complete by the end of May. Residents should be mindful of the active construction sites along the bayou, where construction vehicles will be entering and exiting. Residents/the public should not enter areas surrounded by orange construction fencing.

Sims Bayou Greenway is part of a citywide project called Bayou Greenways 2020, which is being led by the Houston Parks Board in partnership with the City of Houston and in close cooperation with the Harris County Flood Control District. Bayou Greenways 2020 will create a continuous park system along Houston’s major waterways, transform more than 3,000 underutilized acres along the bayous into linear parks and connect 150 miles of hike-and-bike trails.

Want to know more?
Visit our Sims Bayou Greenway webpage, which contains maps and project updates.

You can learn more about our nonprofit organization and how we create, improve, protect and advocate for parks for everyone in the Greater Houston region by visiting our “About Us” webpage.

Beautiful Day in District K