Dallas Parks, Trails & Environment Committee Meeting – November 2, 2026

The Parks, Trails & Environment Committee met on November 2, 2026, from 9:13 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. The committee approved the October 5, 2026, minutes and received briefings on solar canopies for fleet management, conservation management and tree inventory, and a proposed third amendment to the city’s Materials Recovery Facility contract with FCC Environmental Services. A scheduled grant-application briefing was postponed; the December forecast includes a CCAP implementation update and a park planning and design update.

Consent Calendar

• Approved the October 5, 2026, Parks, Trails, and Environment Committee meeting minutes; all members present voted in favor.

Solar Canopies for Fleet Management

• Vincent Olsen, Director of Equipment and Fleet Management, reported that the city has 17 solar canopies, each with two charging pedestals, for 34 chargers total. All 17 canopies are currently off-grid/pure solar, though some are grid-ready. Each canopy can reach up to six vehicles but has four charging cords, stores about 260–265 miles of range, tracks the sun for roughly 25% more daily energy, is rated for 160 mph winds, and is relocatable. Olsen said 10 departments are actively using off-grid charging and that the canopies provided about $12,000 in avoided fuel expense and offset 3,800 gallons, based on kilowatt-hours converted at a blended $3-per-gallon fuel rate.
• Olsen estimated canopy costs at $67,000–$80,000 each and payback at about 8–10 years under full use. He said the city is at roughly 8–10% of its CCAP goal of 100% light-duty EV fleet by 2040 and that about 1,700–1,800 vehicles fall within the CCAP light-duty definition.
• Committee members raised utilization and oversight concerns. One member noted that solar chargers make up about 30% of the city’s chargers but deliver only about 7% of reported utilization, and that only about 12 megawatt-hours had been used against a potential 450–500 megawatt-hours per year. Olsen acknowledged the gap, citing delayed vehicle deliveries and the need for a culture/practice change, and said capacity for current vehicles is being met largely through fast chargers. Members asked for cost-effectiveness metrics, better driver training/sequencing, and protocols to use solar charging.
• A member asked about emergency cutoff switches; Olsen said they exist but are not reachable from the ground and would require a ladder, which the member called a safety concern. Olsen said plug-in hybrids can use the chargers, the city does not own Teslas, and medium-duty electric trucks are pending.
• The committee requested a progress update in about three months and asked that a future briefing include utilization and cost metrics plus a strategic, budget-linked plan from the city manager’s office for meeting the CCAP fleet goal.

Conservation Management and Tree Inventory

• Brett Johnson, Superintendent of Environmental Quality, and Sean Johnson, Deputy Director of Dallas Park and Recreation, presented on invasive species management and the tree inventory. Johnson said there is no silver bullet for invasive privet and that management requires multiple tools: volunteers, mechanical removal, grazing goats, herbicide, and prescribed fire. In 2025–26, volunteers cleared about 5 acres of privet through 22 projects; one acre of privet can require about 21 dump-truck loads of debris, so 5 acres represented about 105 loads.
• Operation Goat involved six projects and about 150 acres total, including about 23 acres at White Rock. Herds ranged from 265 to 1,000 goats. Johnson said goats mainly open visibility and access by clearing vegetation up to about 4.5 feet tall; follow-up treatment is critical, with three to five growing seasons and two to three treatment types often needed. He said prescribed fire is effective but difficult in Dallas because of smoke-sensitive targets such as highways, hospitals, schools, and elder-care centers; Plano, Arlington, and Fort Worth use it.
• The tree inventory covered 23,500 trees across 57 parks, with 6,440 trees around White Rock Lake (about 25% of the inventory). White Rock’s inventoried trees were valued at more than $20 million, or about $3,154 per tree; the most valuable tree was a multi-stem live oak valued at just under $29,000. The inventory identified 343 ash trees at White Rock and about 1,400 ash trees in maintained parks. Johnson said emerald ash borer is in year three or four in Dallas, 12 of 13 monitoring traps tested positive, and the city could lose over 90% of untreated ash trees within three to six years and 99% by year 10. About 6% of inventoried trees were flagged as likely needing removal, while about 94% were in good-to-fair condition.
• Council Member Blair said District 8 was not shown in the presentation and raised concerns about clear-cutting and loss of native trees, especially along the Trinity River. Johnson said about 600 trees were inventoried in District 8, that 8,656 trees in parks/trails crossing council districts still need classification, and that DWU had inventoried over 200,000 trees in the Great Trinity Forest and floodway management areas. Members asked for district-level data, cost per acre by treatment method, hauling costs, follow-up funding, and a proactive emerald ash borer/replanting plan.

Recycling Contract Amendment

• Cliff Gillespie, Director of Sanitation, presented the proposed third amendment to the Materials Recovery Facility develop, operate, and manage contract with FCC Environmental Services Texas, LLC and FCC, S.A. The facility at McCommas Bluff Landfill has been operated by FCC since 2017; the city pays no processing fee and currently receives about $1.3 million annually, primarily host fees from FCC’s processing of other customers’ recyclables. FCC reported processing costs up about 33% from 2020 to 2025 and operating losses per ton in seven of the last nine years. Staff and an independent consultant reviewed the financial information. Gillespie said Dallas may have the only remaining municipal recycling contract in the country that produces net revenue rather than net expense.
• The amendment would temporarily modify revenue sharing, reduce host fees, and adjust recycling education contributions for an initial three years, with two one-year renewal options, and restore terms if market conditions improve. It is expected to reduce sanitation revenue by about $1 million annually; staff said this is already included in the current and next year budgets with no residential sanitation rate impact. The city would continue receiving recycling processing at no cost, and the contract term through 2034 would remain unchanged. Staff recommended approval for the November 10, 2026, City Council agenda.
• A committee member criticized the process, saying the revenue loss was built into the budget before the committee/Council acted and that it felt like staff had predetermined the outcome. Gillespie took responsibility for not bringing it forward sooner and said if the amendment fails, the current arrangement continues; commercial landfill revenue above budget has offset the loss. He said rebidding today could cost the city $3–$5 million per year and would likely be passed to ratepayers. FCC Vice President Andrea Rodriguez said FCC has raised fees to other customers and dropped unprofitable contracts, and that the host fee of about $20 per ton makes it harder to compete for outside material; she said non-city volumes are profitable at current rates. Members asked for line-item detail, a long-term plan, and clarity on recycling education and contamination.
• Gillespie said there are no hard CCAP recycling percentages, but the 2022 local solid waste management plan targets reducing landfilled material by 35% by 2030—with the city currently at about 20% diversion—and 45% by 2040, with composting as a next diversion opportunity.

Key Outcomes

• October 5, 2026, committee minutes approved.
• No committee vote was recorded on the FCC recycling contract amendment; staff recommendation is to approve it at the November 10, 2026, City Council meeting.
• Committee requested a solar-canopy progress update in about three months, including utilization, cost-effectiveness, and a city manager’s office strategic plan tied to the CCAP fleet goal.
• Conservation staff were asked to return with district-level treatment and cost data, hauling and follow-up funding details, and an emerald ash borer/replanting plan.
• The grant application and acceptance process briefing was postponed; the December forecast includes a CCAP report/implementation update and a park planning and design update. The committee welcomed Assistant Manager Elena Siokin and thanked Assistant Manager Liz Sedeo.