915 Northwood Street, 77009

This 23-acre community park on the Eastern periphery of Greater Heights is vital to the Brooke Smith neighborhood, the last remaining predominately Hispanic community in the Greater Heights.

The Montie Beach Civic Club’s vision is to ensure that the park represents the community it serves and is a family destination for all of Greater Heights; the Civic Club raised the necessary funds for for a Montie Beach Park Master Plan (“Master Plan”). The Master Plan will do the following: (i)help identify a long-term visionvison for improvements to the park, (ii) provide insight into how those improvements can be phased in, and (iii) create momentum through visual representation so that community partners, neighbors, and donors want to invest in the Master Plans success.

The Master Plan was developed in partnership with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department with Houston Parks Board serving as the project manager and Asakura Robinson providing design services as the Landscape Architecture firm.

MASTER PLAN PROCESS

A master plan is a document that serves as a blueprint to identify and guide future improvements to the park. The Master Plan is developed by assessing the park’s existing facilities, conditions, natural qualities, and constraints. The Master Plan also serves, to identify opportunities and improvements for connectivity through thoughtful landscaping design elements, park amenities, programs, and park facilities to serve the community. Outreach to stakeholders and community members was a critical component of the Master Plan process to identify community priorities, goals, and objectives that would provide the most benefit to the community.

The master plan was developed over the course of eight months. Montie Beach Civic Club and the project team hosted two community events, an open house, and community meetings. These outreach and community events helped, to identify community priorities, present preliminary concepts, and gather input to inform the final Master Plan. A bilingual outreach approach helped bridge communication barriers, which resulted in input from a diverse range of park visitors. These discussions helped form the Goals of the Master Plan:

GOALS OF MASTER PLAN
  • Create a master plan to guide future development that builds upon past efforts.
  • Integrate park improvements to support and expand existing neighborhood partnerships.
  • Identify a diverse set of park improvements that are beneficial to all.
  • Develop a design that captures the community’s vision and meets the long-term needs of the neighborhood.
  • Increase safety and security at the park.
MASTER PLAN CONCEPTS

Two concepts for the master plan were presented to the community:

  • Concept One: Concept One worked within the existing site circulation and park framework to increase the available amenities where possible and update the existing ones.
  • Concept Two: Concept Two envisioned Montie Beach Park as a blank space with new circulation, amenities, programming, and additional parking.
CONCEPT TWO FAVORED BY COMMUNITY

The community ultimately favored Concept Two. While Concept Two received an overwhelming majority of votes, community members expressed a desire to retain several existing elements like the hill, gazebo, and excess open space around the sports fields. General feedback for both designs included increasing opportunities for sitting and shade, further renovations to the tennis courts, and a relocation of the proposed community garden to be located on the Western edge of the park.

To view the materials associated with the master plan, see below:

The master plan is a flexible blueprint for the potential path forward for multiple phases of improvements to Montie Beach Park.

FUNDRAISING

The next step in the process is community fundraising for professional design services to develop detailed construction documents to implement the first phase of improvements. Once the funds are raised and design work has begun, updates will be provided on this webpage.

UPCOMING COMMUNITY MEETINGS AND EVENTS

All outreach activities related to the Montie Beach Park Master Plan have been completed!

Montie Beach Civic Club will begin efforts to fundraise for the implementation of the master plan, so be sure to attend their events and become involved.

PREVIOUS COMMUNITY MEETINGS AND EVENTS

Montie Beach Park Summer Solstice Celebration: Master Plan Open House

On Wednesday, June 21, 2023, from 6:00-7:30 pm, Houston Parks Board and Montie Beach Civic Club (MBCC) coordinated with Houston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD) to host a family-friendly open house to gather feedback on the park to support the creation of a master plan.

The open house featured food from H-E-B, giveaways from H-E-B, snowcones provided by MBCC, and a kids’ activity area. The master plan design consultant, Asakura Robinson, staffed boards for community input. Council Member Cisneros attended and spoke during the speaking program about the importance of community participation.

View the summary of the open house here

Montie Beach Park Master Plan Sneak Peak Community Meeting

On Thursday, September 7, 2023, 6:30 – 7:30 pm, Houston Parks Board and Montie Beach Civic Club coordinated with HPARD to host a family-friendly community meeting to present two concepts for the master plan and gather final feedback on those concepts.

Design consultant Asakura Robinson presented the two concepts in a presentation, which can be found on Dropbox here.

View a summary of the community meeting here.