Collin County, Farmersville Partner to Build South Lake Kayak Launch

Kayakers have been launching from the banks of South Lake outside Farmersville for at least 14 years without any dedicated infrastructure to show for it. That changes after the Collin County Commissioners Court voted April 6 to approve Interlocal Agreement No. 2026-255, authorizing a formal partnership with the City of Farmersville to design, build, and operate a purpose-built kayak launch at the reservoir off Old Josephine Road.

South Lake, a reservoir sitting roughly 1.5 miles from Farmersville's city center at 1601 Old Josephine Road, already draws fishermen angling for largemouth bass and bird watchers using its pavilion and trail system. But paddlers making the roughly 40-minute drive from Frisco have historically launched without any formal put-in, a gap the new infrastructure is designed to close. The project is designated Bond Project No. OI07PG114 under the county's parks capital program.

Funding for the launch traces to November 7, 2023, when Collin County voters approved all five propositions in a $683 million bond package. Proposition D, covering parks and open space projects, earmarked $22.45 million countywide. Of that, $20 million was set aside for the Project Funding Assistance Program, a competitive matching grant available to cities, nonprofits, and local governments over a five-year cycle running through 2028. The program requires applicants to demonstrate a dollar-for-dollar match through cash, land value, donated labor, or in-kind services before any county dollars are released.

Under the interlocal structure approved this week, Farmersville will prepare plans and specifications, solicit bids, award the construction contract, and administer the build. The county provides bond funding and retains oversight through the Parks Foundation Advisory Board and Commissioners Court approval of any material changes. The arrangement mirrors a nearly identical agreement the county executed with the Town of Prosper in December 2024 for a trail project, Bond Project OI23PG09, under the same 2023 parks bond authorization.

City Manager Ben White and Mayor Overstreet have guided Farmersville through a period of sharp population growth that makes projects like this increasingly relevant. The city counted 3,612 residents in the 2020 census and reached an estimated 4,506 by January 2025, a 24.8% increase in five years. That growth is part of a countywide surge: the U.S. Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimates ranked Collin County second among the nation's fastest-growing counties by raw numeric growth, adding 42,966 people between July 2024 and July 2025 for a total approaching 1.3 million residents.

Farmersville, located approximately 45 miles northeast of Dallas along U.S. Route 380, has historically been an agricultural community, once celebrated as the Onion Capital of North Texas in the 1930s. The wave of suburbanization now reshaping the broader county has accelerated demand for outdoor amenities, and the kayak launch fits a pattern of the county using bond proceeds to expand recreational access alongside existing assets such as Sister Grove Park, Trinity Trail, Parkhill Prairie, and Bratonia Park. The Collin County Engineering Department oversees the bond-funded parks portfolio countywide.

When complete, the South Lake Kayak Launch will give the reservoir its first formal water-access point, connecting a growing city to an amenity its residents have already been quietly using for years.