Year: 2024

Road repair has and probably always will be a hot topic for local communities and Van Alstyne is definitely no exception. We’ve seen that it hasn’t been clear the proper way to report these pot holes and needed road repair. Despite popular opinion, it isn’t Facebook! 😱

In an attempt to not only make it easy to report concerns and get the repairs completed, I’m sharing a map below that the Public Works Department put together to notate which roads belong to which jurisdiction.  There are 4 entities with road ownership in Van Alstyne, City of Van Alstyne, Grayson County, Texas Department of Transportation and a MUD district in Mantua.

For City of Van Alstyne roads, contact 903-482-5426 or fill out the email contact form on our website here.

For Grayson County roads, contact your Grayson County Commissioner. Most of Van Alstyne lies in Precinct No. 1 and you can call (903) 813-4327 or check out the Grayson county website to confirm your commissioner and contact information.

TxDOT has a form on their website here to report road issues, or for immediate attention, call 800-558-9368.

City Council meetings are also a great resource for information on the planned road work as well as opportunity for public comment. These meetings take place on the second Tuesday of every month at City Hall at 6:30pm.

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

Van Alstyne has an incredible Parks and Recreation Department that we are truly proud of! With 5 beautiful parks to choose from, and a new one on the way, there are currently 19 facilities that can be reserved. These facilities range from the pavilions and stage in the Central Social District downtown to the sports fields at McKinney Wilson or Forest Moore Park. Whether having a birthday party or other major celebration, a sports tournament or a stage performance, Van Alstyne has a facility for your needs. Van Alstyne Parks and Recreation has also started using RecDesk to make reserving these facilities even easier for all community members.

On our RecDesk site, you can click Help in the menu for step by step instructions on setting up and account and reserving a facility. On the Facilities page, you can explore each park facility and their calendar, maps, addresses and hours.

If you have any questions about the parks or the facilities, reach out to the Director of Parks and Recreation, Tyler Bark, at 903-482-5426 ext. 2173 or tbark@cityofvanalstyne.us. And for questions on any of the amazing events in Van Alstyne, reach out to Kandi Hessel, 430-262-9439 or khessel@cityofvanalstyne.us.

Van Alstyne parks and facilities include:

Central Social District Park
West Pavilion
• Refundable Deposit 50.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 40.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 80.00
Main Stage
• Refundable Deposit 50.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 40.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 80.00
East Pavilion (Farmers Market Area)
• Refundable Deposit 50.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 40.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 80.00

Dorothy Fielder Park
Gazebo
• Refundable Deposit 50.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 40.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 80.00

COMING SOON: Eula Umphress and Robert Hynds Park
Pavilion
• Refundable Deposit 50.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 40.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 80.00

Community Center
• Refundable Deposit 150.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 100.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 150.00

McKinney Wilson Park
East Field (Big Field)
• Refundable tournament deposit 250.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (in city resident) 15.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (out of city resident) 25.00
• Tournament Rate with or without lights, per team, per day 50.00
• Field marking, per day 50.00
• Maintenance staff fee, per person, per hour 50.00
West Field (Little Field)
• Refundable tournament deposit 250.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (in city resident) 15.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (out of city resident) 25.00
• Tournament Rate with or without lights, per team, per day 50.00
• Field marking, per day 50.00
• Maintenance staff fee, per person, per hour 50.00

Forrest Moore Park
North Field
• Refundable tournament deposit 250.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (in city resident) 15.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (out of city resident) 25.00
• Tournament Rate with or without lights, per team, per day 50.00
• Field marking, per day 50.00
• Maintenance staff fee, per person, per hour 50.00
South Field
• Refundable tournament deposit 250.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (in city resident) 15.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (out of city resident) 25.00
• Tournament Rate with or without lights, per team, per day 50.00
• Field marking, per day 50.00
• Maintenance staff fee, per person, per hour 50.00
Pavilion
• Refundable Deposit 50.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 40.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 80.00

Veteran’s Memorial Park (North Park)
Field
• Refundable tournament deposit 250.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (in city resident) 15.00
• Practice Field Rate, with or without lights, per hour (out of city resident) 25.00
• Tournament Rate with or without lights, per team, per day 50.00
• Field marking, per day 50.00
• Maintenance staff fee, per person, per hour 50.00
Pavilion
• Refundable Deposit 50.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (in city resident) 40.00
• Rental Fee for 4 (four) hour block (out of city resident) 80.00

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

Van Alstyne is growing! And with that growth comes not only additional opportunities to work in Van Alstyne, but also additional benefits!

Living and working in Van Alstyne has never been more attractive.  Van Alstyne is located on an interstate highway with easy access to Sherman and Oklahoma, as well as Mckinney and Dallas. Per City-Data.com, the median household income in Van Alstyne is above the state median, and the estimated cost of living is under average, 85.6 to the U.S. average of 100. Per Niche.com, Van Alstyne is the #1 best place to raise a family in Grayson County and a big part of that is not only the incredibly low crime rate, but also the highly rated school district which has a 14-15:1 student-teacher ratio, compared to the national average of 17-19:1.

Van Alstyne is now a quickly growing town, with many exciting developments to come very soon.  With honorable and highly involved city leaders, the growth and development is with a focus on maintaining the highly desirable community that has already been established. Read about the steps being taken here with DADCO consulting to help form a comprehensive plan for development in Van Alstyne.

Opportunities to be involved in a community at this part of its growth cycle are rare and we are excited to have opportunities in several departments as our needs and departments are growing with the town.  Current openings include Permit Technician, Firefighter/EMT-Paramedic, Street Maintenance Technician, Utility Maintenance Worker, Police Officer, and Chief Finance Officer.  The City of Van Alstyne also offers comprehensive benefits to full time employees and those benefits can be found our our Human Resources page on the city website, or linked right here. These include everything from 100% employee coverage on health, dental and vision insurance, to a retirement package that allows for 7% employee contributions with city matching 2:1.

Look into these benefits and employment opportunities on our Human Resources page for more information!

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

The City of Van Alstyne has been growing and with that growth comes a lot of information, and sometimes misinformation.  In an attempt to proactively share information with the community , straight from the source, we will be sharing content in a blog post each Monday right here on the city website.  With each blog post will also be a video, linked above, that is posted on our YouTube channel, and then we will share links to these on our Facebook as well.

At the end of each month, these posts will be shared in a monthly newsletter. Soon, you can sign up for this newsletter to be emailed automatically, but for now, please email me and I am happy to send you a copy. We also have printed newspaper versions of this monthly newsletter and you can find them and City Hall, the Van Alstyne Public Library, the VA Senior Center, and more!

If you would like me to share about a specific topic, you can request it here!

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088

Looking for a way to connect to the Van Alstyne community?

The City of Van Alstyne has many sponsorship opportunities to make some of the BEST activities in the area possible! Some annual events that have open sponsorships for 2024 are the Sounds of Summer Concert series, Splash Bash, Movie in the Park, and Fall Der All.

In addition to these community favorites, exciting new events have been added including the Shop and Sample Saturdays, Downtown Palentines, Margarita Crawl, Cornhole Tournaments, a Salsa and Queso Showdown, Downtown Trick or Treating, Holiday Hangout and the Holiday Decorating contest.

In years prior, these events have attracted thousands of attendees and incredible vendors. With the immense growth in the area and the incredibly successful track record of these events, those attendance numbers are expected to increase dramatically this year and in years to come.

Follow the Van Alstyne Parks and Recreation Facebook page for event updates. And for more information on how to be a sponsor for any of the Van Alstyne Events, please call or email Kandi Hessel, 430-262-9439, khessel@cityofvanalstyne.us.

There are many road projects actively taking place, and planned for the near future.  The City of Van Alstyne has a extensive plan for improving roads through out Van Alstyne, but we are not the only jurisdiction taking care of the roads we all drive on.  Many roads we use here are the responsibility of Grayson County or Texas Department of Transportation as well.  TXDoT has some major projects being worked on this year and here are those project summaries:

FM 121 Rehabilitation Project

Lincoln Park to 160 – taking it from 24’ wide to 26’ wide and recapturing some right of way from overgrowth. 1 mile is completed now and the second mile is in progress now. The overall project is expected to be complete in January 2026.

US 75 from Collin County Line to FM 1417

The purpose of the project is to add capacity, improve traffic operations by converting frontage roads from two-way to one-way operation, provide frontage road turn around opportunities, and ramp improvements along US 75. The proposed project is 14 miles from Collin County Line to FM 1417 and widens US 75 from two main lanes to three main lanes in each direction.

Replacement of the overpass at County Line Road / Panther Parkway

1 over pass at FM 121/Van Alstyne Pkwy – the existing bridge will not be replaced with the initial project. TXDoT is rebuilding the intersection with concrete pavement with this project.

1 new overpass about a mile north of Van Alstyne Pkwy by Simmons Loop

Reconstruction or modification of existing ramps, where applicable, to support the lane widening and frontage road conversion. Frontage roads will be repaved and restriped for one way conversion.

Construction for this project is expected to begin in early 2025.  This will be a 2-3 year project.

See initial schematics and plans for this project here and fact sheet here.

FM 3133

This summer, FM 3133 will have maintenance touch up and get a seal coat surface similar to what was done on state Hwy 5 north of the High School.

This map shows the ownership of the roads in and around Van Alstyne. And for contact instructions for road issues, please see below.

For City of Van Alstyne, contact City Hall – 903-482-5426 or for more detailed options, check out our Report A Problem page here.

TXDoT roads, you may report an issue here.  For road conditions requiring immediate attention, call 800-558-9368

Grayson County Roadways Facilities Maintenance Office may be contacted here, or you may contact your county commissioner as well.  Precinct 1 County Commission page is here.

Crystal DeBacker
Media Coordinator
City of Van Alstyne

cdebacker@cityofvanalstyne.us
903-357-1088