Frisco Council approves $368,003 amendment for Cottonwood Creek Trail design

The Frisco City Council approved a $368,003 amendment to its professional services agreement with Freese and Nichols, Inc. to provide design services and construction administration for the Cottonwood Creek Trail Extension - Phase 2. The approval expands an August 2022 contract and adds a redesigned alignment plus a new 1.3-mile federally funded trail segment that was not in the original scope.

The action came at the council's Feb. 3 meeting, where the agenda included a formal item authorizing the City Manager to execute a Professional Services Agreement with Freese and Nichols for design services and construction administration of the Cottonwood Creek Trail Extension - Phase 2. The original professional services agreement, approved in August 2022, was for $290,500 to design the trail extension between Frisco Street and the BNSF railroad. The new amendment explicitly redesigns that Frisco Street to BNSF segment and incorporates the federally funded stretch.

Adding the $368,003 amendment to the original $290,500 contract yields $658,503 as a computed total; city documents provided do not list an official revised contract value. The council packet shows other related transportation and parks items on the same agenda, including agreements tied to TxDOT programs and underpass trail connections, indicating concurrent investment in regional trail connectivity.

Cottonwood Creek Trail figures prominently in Frisco’s greenbelt network. The trail is described in city planning materials as a 5.02-mile concrete greenbelt trail with segments 8, 10, and 12 feet wide that runs along Cottonwood Creek from Chaparral Road to Ridgeview Drive. Existing infrastructure includes an 8-foot-wide segment through the Twins Creeks neighborhood that ends at W. Exchange Parkway; planning materials show the proposed portion beginning at W. Exchange Parkway and ending at Ridgeview Drive. Planners have highlighted Cottonwood Creek as a major spine trail tied into the Regional Veloweb network, and recommended CBD connections and grade-separated crossings to improve downtown access.

Planning context for the amendment sits alongside recent work on the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-0 at a Feb. 25, 2025 public hearing to approve an update to the Parks and Recreation Master Plan with conditions, and the commission memo notes that final approval requires action by City Council. Cottonwood Creek Park and Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt are listed as typology examples in plan materials.

Several details remain to be finalized publicly: the city has not released a construction schedule for Phase 2, the specific federal funding source for the 1.3-mile segment has not been named in council materials, and the council vote tally was not published in the available documents. Residents can expect the city to move forward with contract execution and detailed design work under Freese and Nichols, with project maps, timelines, and funding specifics to follow as staff completes the design and construction administration steps.