The Abilene Park and Recreation Board voted to advance proposed improvement projects at Lake Fort Phantom, approving staff to refer the design and bid-ready materials to City Council for funding consideration.

Staff said the work responds to long-term low-water conditions and structural deterioration of ramp pavement. The northwest ramp proposal calls for repairing and extending the ramp to make it usable at lake levels observed during the 2014 low-water period; because the Johnson Park ramp is wide, staff recommended extending roughly half of that width to the lower elevation. Staff described the work as including ramp repair, asphalt and concrete replacement, lighting, a new restroom, earthwork and a cofferdam construction sequence to allow work in the dry.

For the northwest ramp, staff provided an opinion of probable cost of about $2,500,000 if construction proceeds in January 2026. The southeast ramp proposal includes extending four lanes and repairing washouts and also contemplates adding a Float-on EasyDock slip to allow temporary docking so boaters can move vehicles and trailers off launch lanes.

"What we're proposing here is to actually extend the boat ramps to be usable at what the water level was in 2014," staff said during the presentation, noting the project will require permitting because it touches the lake bed and could seek Texas Parks and Wildlife grant funding if timing and grant windows align.

Board members moved and seconded to approve the proposed improvement projects; the motion carried and staff were directed to tell City Council that the Parks Board supports moving the project into design and hard-bid phases. Staff emphasized the project will require permitting and additional coordination and that a grant application route is being pursued in parallel.

Votes at a glance: the board approved the motion to advance the Lake Fort Phantom ramp projects to City Council with design and bidding authorization. The meeting transcript recorded the motion and the board’s affirmative voice vote; no roll-call tally was included in the record.