Major upgrade: Santa Maria is getting a new park

Major upgrade: Santa Maria is getting a new park

Cameron County on Monday held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Santa Maria Community Park, which will replace the old Santa Maria Park once located on the grounds of the historic Our Lady of Visitation Catholic Church along U.S. 281.

The new park will be built on a 10.8-acre tract on River Road in Santa Maria just north of U.S. 281, and will feature a covered basketball court, lighted soccer and baseball fields, playground equipment, picnic shelters, a concession building, splash pad, solar lights, bicycle racks and repair station, and other amenities.

Construction should be complete within 10-12 months, according to the county.

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A number of officials and community members from Santa Maria and the surrounding area were in attendance for the ceremony, as were several county and state officials, along with U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who represents Texas’ 34th congressional district. Santa Maria Independent School District Superintendent Joseph Villarreal was among those providing comments during the ceremony, which included performances by Santa Maria ISD cheerleaders and musicians.

Precinct 4 county Commissioner Gus Ruiz told the crowd that the project was four years in the making and that families in Santa Maria and nearby Bluetown would enjoy it for generations to come — though he admonished residents to take care of the asset and not allow it to succumb to vandalism.

“This is a $6.1 million investment to your community, Santa Maria and Bluetown,” he said.

Ruiz called it a perfect example of local, state and federal government working together for the public good. The project is being funded by county certificates of obligation, a grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021.

“We’ve made it a point on this commissioners court to work with anyone and everyone who’s going to help us make these projects a reality,” said county Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., citing park projects in every county precinct.

“We’re very, very proud of what we’ve done as a board, and we’re proud of the relationships that we’ve established with our partners at the state and federal level,” he said.

State Rep. Oscar Longoria (Dist. 35) said that often local officials will approach the state for help with a vision in mind, but no real plan — though that was not the case, this time.

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“Luckily Commissioner Ruiz, he had the schematics down,” he said. “It’s always hard, because everyone wants a park. A million dollars sent to Santa Maria could be a million dollars sent to San Antonio. Thankfully, there was buy-in from other members of the House and so we were able to get it done.

Gonzalez, taking his turn at the podium, said it was a tough fight securing funds for ARPA “because a lot of people thought that we could have done other things with (the money).”

“But it really impacted lives, because we were able to bring over $380 million to South Texas for projects just like this, that are transforming lives,” he said. “I’m talking about water treatment plants. We had communities that had yellow water coming out of their faucets.”

ARPA also made possible badly needed flood control projects, and of course quality-of-life projects such as the new park Santa Maria and Bluetown will soon have, Gonzalez said.

“Studies show that when you have a park in your neighborhood diabetes goes down by 20%,” he said.

“We have high rates of diabetes here in South Texas. We’ve contributed a little over $2 million in federal resources for this project, but it also took the county to decide (to) spend this ARPA money right here in Santa Maria in improving people’s lives.”

The original Santa Maria Park operated for nearly 40 years until the property reverted back to the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville in 2021.

The county bought the land for the new park in 2023. Santa Maria Community Park will feature amenities the likes of which have not been available before locally, according to the county.

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