Salce Park grant moves forward

 Writer's Note: The Observer used a photo in a previous article about this story, designating it as Salce Park. However, the Observer was informed that is actually private property.

CORRALES — Salce Park is very close to its revamp.

A  Land and Water Conservation Fund grant has been approved for the village once Corrales can meet all of its requirements.

Deputy Fire Chief Tanya Lattin told the council Dec. 16 they would move forward with the final steps for the grant.

"This grant is an interesting one. It is not a design grant. At least 50% of the money we get from them has to be used for construction in order to get the grant," she said. "That's why we're looking at the outside path and possibly a fence."

Corrales was awarded $203,000 but can go up to $300,000 with no match from the fund, according to Lattin. But she said for the village, they can match $150,000.

So far there have been two public meetings about the project. Last week's meeting focused on the results of the survey run by the Salce Park Supporters Team.

"It'll be a nice, simple, quiet park and we're hoping that everyone's really, really happy with it. Surrounding neighbors seem to be happy," she said.

Councilors had a few questions that were more for the benefit of the community.

 Councilor Stuart Murray asked about the status of the well and if "substantial resources" were needed for rehabilitation.

"I don't think so. Last I heard, there's still power there. We do want it to be a low maintenance park, so we really want to put stuff in that we know we're gonna have to water when it first goes in, but we don't want it to be something... It's not gonna be like the rec center where it's got to be irrigated every two days," Lattin replied.

She also reminded the council that if the project goes well with the fund's grant, they could receive extra points for the next year of the grant.

"So we're really hoping that when we get this first part done in the design, we'll be way up there for the second phase and the landscape architect and the engineer will be putting together full cost estimates of all this stuff," she said.

As was brought up in the previous public meeting, the park will get a children's play area but Lattin said they will consult the public on which type of play area will be built.

Another concern was if the project will be beneficial to Fire Chief Anthony Martinez's fire suppression plan. Lattin confirmed the fire suppression will go in on the north side of the park.

Ponds, which were also discussed, are not a possibility, according to Lattin, because of New Mexico's water laws.

See rrobserver.com for previous coverage of Salce Park.