Years ago, we took a Dallas park that was “almost there” and quietly pushed it over a milestone that changed the buyer pool overnight. It was not a flashy project. It was a careful, local-politics-heavy grind. The lesson still holds in 2026: adding even a handful of sites can move the value needle, but only if you treat approvals as the main job, not an afterthought.
Why expansions pay, and why they get denied
An expansion is one of the rare ways to create new inventory in an asset class where new supply is hard to build. That same reality is why cities scrutinize you. Most denials are not about your grading plan. They are about trust, optics, and whether the city believes you will keep your promises after the vote.
Earn the right to ask
If the existing community looks tired, the city hears “more problems.” Before you file anything, make the park a place a city manager can drive through without flinching.
Focus on basics that signal control: clean entrances, consistent rules, working lighting, tidy homes, clear traffic flow, and fast response to complaints. If you cannot run 80 sites well, no one is excited to let you run 90.
Win votes before the public meeting
City council meetings rarely change minds. People typically arrive with a yes or no already formed. Your work happens weeks earlier, one conversation at a time.
Your goal is not to “pitch.” Your goal is to learn what each decision-maker needs in order to feel safe supporting the request, then decide what you will and will not agree to.
Here’s the only checklist you need (keep it simple and repeatable):
- Meet each stakeholder early (planning staff, council members)
- Ask what objections they expect to hear, and how to neutralize them
- Offer practical concessions that are easy to verify later (screening, traffic tweaks, drainage upgrades)
- Delay the hearing until you have the votes, not hope
Start small, stack wins
Big expansions invite big opposition. A 10-site add-on sounds manageable. A 100-site plan sounds like a redevelopment.
If you want a large end result, treat it as phases. Cities remember whether you delivered what you promised last time. A clean, on-budget, no-drama first phase can make the second phase easier.
The economics in 2026
The math still works because most of your overhead is already covered by the existing park. The new sites mostly add incremental expenses.
What has changed is the cost to build since Covid. Budget roughly $25,000 per new site for expansion development. And, in high-cost or high-regulation environments, feasibility work has shown infrastructure requirements can dominate the budget, pushing total project costs into levels that break affordability.
So do not design a “resort.” Match the current community, size sites for today’s homes, and spend money where the city cares: safety, utilities, drainage, access, and appearance.
Conclusion
Expanding an existing park is a sharp tool when you already run a clean operation and you treat approvals like a campaign. Win trust first, line up votes early, build in phases, and keep the project boring. Boring is what gets permitted, and permitted is what gets paid.