Trail at Flag Pole Hill: Photos by Sheryl Lanzel

Trail at Flag Pole Hill: Photos by Sheryl Lanzel

It’s been several months since the two Dallas Park and Recreation buildings at Flag Pole Hill were evacuated due to a rat infestation—we learned about that as we discussed with City of Dallas project planner Peter Bratt the future of many of Dallas’ parks and trails.

Sign up for our newsletter

* indicates required

Flag Pole Hill is of special interest to Lake Highlands and East Dallas people, and a community meeting is set for Nov. 29, the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, at the Lake Highlands Recreation Center at 6:30 p.m. According to the Lake Highlands Public Improvement District, the gathering presents an opportunity to “speak up about the future of an incredible park in our neighborhood,” and to discuss updates to the park’s “master plan.”

At the time, Bratt filled us in a bit on Flag Pole Hill progress from 1930- present day.

flag-pole-hill-historical

Historical photo of Flag Pole Hill, formerly known as Doran’s Point.

“Flag Pole was part of White Rock Lake since, what I like to call, the dinosaur age, 1930s,” Bratt told us. “Last master plan update was in 1987. In 1991 there was an implementation plan. There was an update to the ’91 plan in 2001 and at that point we carved out the separate parks — Olive Shapiro, Flag Pole — Norbuck has always been somewhat separate. So we haven’t done a master plan for Flag Pole Hill since.

We are going to go through bidding process to get the work done on that.”Lake Highlands resident and Park Board Robb Stewart accepted District 10 councilman Adam McGough’s request for him to guide the newest master plan process for Flag Pole Hill, Bratt said.That will be of interest beginning in the fall, and, he says, “That’s where you will get people from different groups discussing what to do. Two groups each want to do a playground there — For the Love of the Lake and Junior League, so we will find something that works.”

The city is fixing faltering foundation under the Flag Pole Hill Pavilion.

The city is fixing faltering foundation under the Flag Pole Hill Pavilion.

There is one playground on the land now, the only one ever approved for Flag Pole Hill, in 1998, Robb Stewart has said in a previous interview with Advocate editor Keri Mitchell (when she asked him about rumors circulating on Facebook that a new playground for disabled children had been previously approved but thwarted by Stewart/McGough).

And here we are, it’s the fall, and that meeting is happening as promised.
Recent repairs that went down at the Flag Pole Hill pavilion had to do with fixing the foundation, Bratt confirmed.