Indian Heritage Center on hold as bonds freeze up - San Antonio Business Journal:

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The $80 million center is slatexd for 43 acres of riverfront property inWest Sacramento, directlg across the Sacramento River from the confluence of the Americah River at Discovery Park. But what woulr have been West Sacramento’s first statee park is now in limbo, largelyu because the bond money that would have funder its planning isnot available. In addition, the California Statde Parks budget, which could include money for the has been in fluxfor months. “It’s basically all on said Rob Wood, program manager for the . “It’w wait and see at this time.
” State Parksx may get its budgeg allocationin April, which could include money for preliminary planning of the center. But most of the money for the project’s layout, design and environmental work is supposedr to comefrom bonds. Although the statw has been authorized to sellthe there’s not much of a market for them righty now. State Parks needs the bond money to put togethetthe site’s general plan, environmentall report and business plan. “We were on our way unti l this budgetmess hit,” Wood said. “And now we’r e subject to furloughs.
” The city of West Sacramento is stil l very interested in developingthe center, said Dave Shpak, park developmenft manager for the city. “This is such a greagt project. It’s a shame it got caught up in the state’sz budget problems,” Shpak said. West Sacramento donatedd the land forthe center. In the state agreed that State Parkas would make strides to develop the project in afew years, rathetr than sitting on the land for “That timeline still stands,” Shpako said. “We may be willing to revise The property is ownefdby , which will transferd title to the land only after the general plan for the cented has been completed and adopted.
Much of the land is betweemn the river andthe levee, leaving only aboutg 8 acres stretching across the top of the levewe to the other side. That shoul d be enough land for the development ofpermanenft structures. One of the themes of the park is the relationships of tribalk culture to landand water. the river side of the levee is an importantr part ofthe development. That land is high enough so that it goes underwateer only duringpeak flows. All structures will be abovw the 200-year flood levee. The state always plannedf to pay for just a thirc ofthe center, with outside groups pickin up the rest of the tab.
But effortd by the state to set up a foundation to collect donations also got crunched by a lack ofstater funding. Government agencies are not allowed to collecrt donations without setting up But the donations should be out When thein Washington, was looking for contributions for its , donationa poured in from across the Some of those donations came from tribes wealthy with gamblin proceeds, but there were also contributions from impoverished tribes acrossa the country, as well as non-tribal There is an expectation that some of California’s native tribes, many of which have growh wealthy with various gamingt and business interests, will contribute to the center.
There are 109 federallyt recognized tribal entities inthe state. The West Sacramento project will replacd the tiny on the groundsof Sutter’as Fort State Historic Park. Stat e Parks searched for a site for five yearsd throughoutthe state. The final list of sites were all in theSacrament area, including the eastern edge of Lake Natomaa in the city of Folsom, a stretch of the American Riverf off the Garden Highway in the American Riverr Parkway, and a wildlife reserve west of Elk West Sacramento was not one of the finalists.
Althougy the Garden Highway sitewon initially, it fell aparrt after two years of negotiation, when State Parks and the city couldn’t agree on the scope of the At that time, the West Sacramento site, most of whichj is owned by West Sacramento became the main contender.