Trotter Park's Bids Came In Too High. Now the Town Starts Over.

If you've been waiting for shovels to hit the ground at that empty stretch on Cross Timbers Road, here's the update you didn't want: the town went out for bids on Trotter Park, looked at what came back, and walked away. Bids were received and staff reviewed the responses, but due to higher-than-anticipated bid amounts and a lack of bidders, the project will be rebid in July 2026. The clock resets.

This park has been years in the making. The town received the 13.11-acre property in a deed from Toll Brothers in 2020, and had previously wanted to put a tennis center there — but voters rejected a proposed $7.5 million bond in May 2023. The town went back to the drawing board, gathered public input, and landed on a different plan. The project covers design and development of the Trotter Park property at 4551 Cross Timbers Road, with a master plan approved in July 2024 that includes two tennis courts, twelve pickleball courts, a basketball court, a playground, a plaza area, native landscaping, parking, a restroom building, soft surface and concrete trails, and a detention pond. A real park. Residents showed up for the design meetings, filled out the survey, went to the neighborhood meeting at the Senior Center in February.

The original opening target? Park construction funding was slated to start in FY 2025–26, with an expected opening date in early 2027. That window is looking shaky.

The town didn't come into this empty-handed. Flower Mound received a $750,000 non-urban outdoor grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife for development at Trotter Park. The state grant provides a 50% match for local funding up to $750,000 for the acquisition, development, and renovation of public recreation areas and facilities. Real money is committed. The design is essentially done — the design is 90% complete. This isn't a project that stalled in committee. It stalled at the moment it was supposed to actually get built.

What nobody knows yet — what the town hasn't said publicly — is how wide the gap was between what the budget assumed and what contractors quoted. That number matters. A small gap might close on a rebid if the market shifts. A large one means the town either finds more money, trims the scope, or keeps waiting. None of those are painless. The TPWD grant also carries conditions: as a condition for receiving the grant, the town must keep Trotter Park accessible to the public, properly maintained and designated as park land in perpetuity. The grant isn't going anywhere, but it creates an obligation that makes indefinite delay complicated.

The rebid is scheduled for this month. Watch for whether new bids actually come in and how many contractors respond. The lack of bidders the first time is its own red flag. Watch, too, for whether the scope stays intact or quietly shrinks to reach a number the budget can absorb. If round two hits the same wall, that's a harder conversation. The families who have been waiting for those pickleball courts and that playground deserve a straight answer about what comes next.