Bill breathes life back into Salt Creek Park

A recent move in Congress may finally mean construction could begin on the long-delayed Salt Creek Park project, the City Council announced Thursday. On Dec. 8, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a comprehensive water resources infrastructure bill that included all the wording from a bill sponsored by then-U.S. Representative for Texas’s 19th congressional district Randy Neugebauer. The bill’s purpose was to take the Salt Creek project away from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so it can be handled, instead, by the Brazos River Authority. “The Corps of Engineers was the holdup in getting started on the park and our president signed that bill into law before he went to Hawaii for Christmas … so now it is just between us and the Brazos River Authority and they are ready to get it moving and funded,” Place 4 Graham Councilman Lee Boyd said. President Barack Obama signed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the the Nation Act into law Dec. 16 and effectively removed the Corps of Engineers from the project. Boyd spoke to BRA Upper Basin Regional Manager Mike McClendon about getting the ball rolling on the project. “They are kind of finding out exactly what they need to do to get that all verified, but I think we should be able to get started on it this year,” Councilman Lee Boyd said. City Manager Brandon Anderson said he wanted to organize a meeting with the original park committee to get some of the history of the project and develop an understanding of where to move on from there. Anderson said he was also interested in finding out how flexible funding is for the project. “How can those funds be spent, you know, can we refurbish and add some amenities to our current Fireman’s Park and then also add some complementary items to the new park as well,” Anderson said. For the rest of this story, subscribe to our print or online edition.